811 


I  lie  White  Conquest 


OF 


ARIZONA 


OF 


HISTORY 
THE     PIONEERS 


OR1CK 


By 

JACKSON 


PUBLISHED   BY 

IB*  West  Coast  Magazine 

PRICE  FIFTY  CENTS 


Ike  GRAF  TON  CO.  (Inc. 
LOS   ANCCLES,    CAL, 


Sr. 


tite 


i 

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e 


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u.  c. 

ACADEMY   OF 

PACIFIC  COAST 
HISTORY 


~> 


BANCROFT    LIBRARY 


THE  WHITE  CONQUEST 

OF 

ARIZONA 


HISTORY 
OF  THE   PIONEERS 


By 
ORICK     JACKSON 


Published  by 
THE  WEST  COAST  MAGAZINE 


The  GRAFTON  CO.  (Inc.) 
Los  Angeles,  Cal. 


Copyrighted  1908.  by 

WEST  COAST  MAGAZINE 

All  rights  reserved 


-71 


Contents 

Advent  of  the  First  White  Man 
Walker's  Famous  Expedition 

Other  Expeditions 
Beginning  of  Indian  Hostilities 

Ghastly  Pinole  Treaty 

Woolsey's  Second  Expedition 

A  One  Man  Army 

Memorable  Indian  Fights 

Skull  Valley,  What  a  Boy's  Playhouse  Did, 
Sam  Miller's  Nerve,  The  Wickenburg  Massacre 

Crook  and  His  Work 
Names  that  are  Familiar 

A  Patriotic  Pilgrim 

Three  Women  on  the  Frontier 

Desperate  Days  and  Desperate  Men 

Legend  of  the  Hassayampa 

Gigantic  Wildcatting 
Arizona's  First  Christmas  Tree 

Lehigh's  Folly 

Massacre  of  the  Oatman  Family 
Lee's  Revenge 


Illustrations 

Famous  Hassayampa  River 

Judge  N.  L.  Griffin 

Judge  W.  H.  Kirkland 

Gov.  Goodwin's  Mansion 

Hon.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Samuel  Miller 

Gen.  George  Crook 

Joseph  Ehle 
Col.  Alex.  A.  Brodie,  U.S.A. 

J.  H.  Lee 

Wales  Arnold 

J.  N.  Rodenburg 

Danuel  Hatz 


Famous  Hassayampa  River 


CIGHT    miles    south    of  Prescott,  said  to  have  been  first  explored 
by  Annanias.      The  legend  is  that  anyone  who  drinks  the  water  of 
this   River    will    never  again  tell  the  truth,  save  a  dollar  or  leave  the 
Territory  of  Ariz  ma. 


The  White  Conquest 
of  Arizona 


By 

OR1CK  JACKSON 


OF  ALL  the  subdivisions  of  the  American  Union, 
Arizona  is  the  most  neglected  of  any  on  the 
pages  of  history.  From  that  memorable  day  in 
1863,  when  by  proclamation  it  was  cut  out  from 
New  Mexico,  up  to  the  present  era,  not  a  leaflet  re- 
cords its  vivid  past,  so  far  as  official  consideration 
goes,  nor  is  there  any  probability  of  preserving  itb 
earlier  life  unless  a  radical  reform  is  inaugurated.  The 
most  fascinating  and  the  most  thrilling  history  of  the 
Territory  is  crystalized  around  the  dark  days  of  the 
earlier  '6o's.  But  of  that  time  what  is  there  to  au- 
thoritatively point  to,  or  what  official  data  is  there  to 
guide  one  in  his  research?  Absolutely  nothing.  Aside 
from  a  greasy  piece  of  ordinary  newspaper  about  eight 
inches  square,  which  heralds  the  birth  of  Arizona,  and 
on  file  somewhere  at  the  capital,  and  a  few  mouldy 
books  containing  the  proceedings  of  the  first  Legisla- 
ture at  Prescott  in  1864,  dry  and  nauseous  reading 
only  is  available.  On  the  other  hand,  the  scenes  that 
go  with  thrilling  events,  that  cover  the  entry  of  the 
first  white  men  to  an  unknown  land,  that  tell  the  old 
story  over  of  good  old  days  on  a  very  bad  frontier,  and 
kindred  doings,  all  these  are  lacking.  From  the  dis- 
position of  the  body  politic  in  Arizona,  the  average 
legislator  is  as  desirous  of  burying  the  past  as  he  is 
of  crucifying  his  own  ambitions  after  once  he  has 
been  elected  to  that  office,  and  accordingly,  any  effort 
to  officially  and  justly  weave  the  story  of  the  past  into 
something  definite  and  legitimate  is  obnoxious,  in  view 


TO       THE    WHITE    CONQUEST    OF    ARIZONA 

of  the  debt  he  owes  his  constituency  who  frequently 
have  a  financial  string  of  their  own  to  pull  at,  and  from 
which  their  personal  beacon  light  generally  gets  the 
biggest  end  of  the  bolt.  Time  and  again  have  meri- 
torious measures  been  broached  to  preserve  the  his- 
torical beauties  of  the  past,  but  just  as  often  have  they 
been  shelved.  With  but  one  exception  have  the  appeals 
of  the  pioneers  been  answered.  That  single  exception 
is  known  as  the  Pioneer  Society  at  Tucson.  It  gets, 
biennially,  the  semblance  of  regard  in  a  burro  appro- 
priation of  money  to  "sustain"  its  aims  and  objects. 
Measured  in  service  to  the  cause,  the  janitor  gets  the 
first  whack  at  it,  and  the  landlord  who  owns  the  room 
in  which  the  "display,"  as  they  call  it,  is  open  to  all, 
starts  in  to  squeal  about  the  middle  of  the  month  for 
the  pittance  that  is  left,  and  nearly  collapses  when  pay 
day  is  before  him  in  reality.  Individualism  in  Arizona 
is  equally  lockstepped  to  the  biethren  who  are  in  the 
official  saddle  in  respect  to  the  pioneer.  One  by  one, 
as  they  pass  over  the  Divide,  there  attends  the  usual 
obsequies,  and  after  they  are  laid  away,  that  is  the  end 
of  them.  Possibly  a  few  may  linger  long  enough  in 
memory  to  recall  how  they  ran  the  gauntlet  in  the  Dra- 
goons, how  single  handed  they  "fit"  Natchez  and  Nana 
to  a  standstill  on  the  Santa  Cruz,  how  "Bill"  Jones 
stampeded  a  rancheria  on  the  Hassayampa,  and  other 
hair-breadth  adventures,  but  when  once  they  are  in 
the  cold  earth,  the  past  goes  with  them. 

Get  on  your  hands  and  knees  and  creep  down  the 
long  line  of  mounds  that  cover  Paulin  Weaver,  John 
Townsend,  King  S.  Woolsey,  Al.  Sieber,  Charley  Spen- 
cer, Dan  O'Leary,  Pat  Kehoe,  Willard  Rice,  Billy  Mc- 
cloud,  Gus  Swain,  Captain  Joe  Walker  and  score  and 
scores  of  other  brave  men  in  the  same  cause.  What 
faces  you  in  recognition  of  the  valiant  life  they  fol- 
lowed to  blaze  the  mountain  side  with  trails  to  lead 
and  guide  those  who  were  to  follow  ?  So  far  as  North- 
ern Arizona  figures  in  this  utter  disregard  of  the  pio- 
neer, even  in  death,  it  is  a  disgraceful  fact  to  make 
public  that  its  saviors  in  the  days  of  the  Apache  drama 
are,  in  each  and  every  instance,  sleeping  in  graves 'that 
are  unmarked — without  even  a  headboard  to  designate 
who  they  are  or  where  they  are. 

Prescott  and  Yavapai  county  are  the  cradle  of  Ari- 
zona. It  was  here  that  the  ball  started  to  roll,  and  it 


Judge  N.  L.  Griffin 

The  pioneer  living  resident  of  Prescott  where  he  arrived  in  1864 


THE    WHITE    CONQUEST    OF    ARIZONA        n 

was  to  them  that  the  first  white  man's  expedition  was 
attracted.  Of  the  members  of  that  expedition,  only  a 
very  few  remain.  In  a  decade  they  will  follow  the 
wing  that  has  gone.  Appreciating  how  invaluable  the 
events  of  the  earlier  days  will  set  on  the  equilibrium  of 
the  present,  an  effort  will  be  made  in  these  chronicles 
to  recall  some  of  the  noteworthy  happenings  of  the 
earlier  days,  the  period,  in  short,  attending  the  combat 
when  the  Apache  contested  every  inch  of  the  land  in- 
vaded, when  whites  fought  whites,  when  the  earth  was 
seething  in  all  the  fury  of  a  cataclysm,  to  again  break 
through  the  crust  of  the  volcano  that  buried  everybody 
and  everything  in  one  way  and  another.  The  domain 
to  be  included  in  this  brief  resume  is  confined  to  that 
region  lying  north  of  the  Gila,  an  area  in  its  day  that 
was  known  as  Yavapai  county,  and  embraced  over 
50,000  square  miles  of  land.  To  secure  this  data, 
friendly  intercourse  has  been  had  with  a  few  of  the 
generous  old-time  pioneers  left,  and  to  whom  the  writer 
is  grateful  for  kindness  shown  and  information  fur- 
nished. 

ADVENT  OF  THE  FIRST  WHITE  MAN. 

No  matter  what  biographers  may  say,  or  what  vis- 
ionary writers  may  speculate  on  as  to  who  was  first 
to  enter  and  become  identified  with  Arizona,  the  fact 
is  incontrovertibly  established  that  Paulin  Weaver  has 
the  honor  and  the  distinction  of  being  the  first  white 
man  to  live  in  Arizona.  As  long  ago  as  1830  he  ex- 
plored alone  the  region  lying  along  the  Verde  river, 
forty  miles  north  of  the  present  city  of  Prescott,  and 
so  informed  many  nf  his  associates  in  this  section  in 
later  years  when  he  was  permanently  located.  He 
came  to  Arizona  to  lay  out  ground  for  the  Hudson 
Bay  Company  and  for  the  purpose  of  following  the 
trade  of  trapper  for  that  company.  In  1843,  or  there- 
abouts, he  again  returned  to  the  Verde,  being  accom- 
panied by  Captain  Joe  Walker  and  the  famous  Kit  Car- 
son. They  followed  the  vocation  of  trappers,  and 
when  the  streams  were  devastated  of  game,  Carson 
and  Walker  left  with  the  booty.  Weaver  continued 
to  live  here,  and  became  a  roving  member  of  the  many 
Indian  tribes  then  in  existence.  He  was  a  typical 
mountaineer,  of  a  magnificent  physique,  and  a  genial 
disposition.  Probably  no  man  ever  lived  who  enjoyed 


12       THE    WHITE    CONQUEST    OF    ARIZONA 

the  confidence  of  the  Indian  more  than  did  he.  He 
would  travel  at  any  hour  of  the  day  or  night  into  their 
camps,  and  during  the  hostile  period  in  later  years, 
when  the  whites  entered,  the  chain  of  friendship  was 
never  disturbed  or  broken.  He  acted  as  the  pilot  on 
many  expeditions  to  make  treaties,  and  until  the  out- 
break became  general  and  uncontrolable,  was  success- 
ful. He  located  in  the  6o's  at  a  gulch  in  the  south- 
western part  of  this  county,  and  to  this  day  the  place 
is  called  Weaver.  He  followed  placer  mining  for 
years,  and  acquired  considerable  "dust"  at  one  time. 
His  long  career  in  the  interest  of  exploration,  the  hard- 
ships and  privations  incidental  thereto,  and  the  strenu- 
ous life  of  the  day  when  he  was  in  the  prime  of  man- 
hood undermined  him,  and  he  retraced  his  steps  to  the 
scenes  of  other  days,  the  beautiful  valley  of  the  Verde, 
where  he  passed  away  in  the  later  years  of  the  6o's. 
Paulin  Weaver  was  a  picturesque  figure  in  the  pioneer 
era,  and  was  beloved  by  all  Arizonans. 

WALKER'S  FAMOUS  EXPEDITION. 

Not  excepting  the  entry  of  the  gubernatorial  party 
and  the  organization  by  them  of  the  Territory  in  1863, 
is  there  a  more  noteworthy  event  to  chronicle  in  the 
history  of  Arizona  than  the  entry  of  the  famous  little 
band  of  intrepid  men  under  Captain  Joe  Walker. 

In  the  lore  of  frontier  doings,  the  trite  expression  of 
today  is  applicable — this  was  "going  some."  This  ex- 
pedition will  go  down  in  history  as  the  most  notable 
one  that  ever  graced  western  annals,  and  no  exception 
will  be  made  and  no  ground  given  to  place  it  at  any 
other  point  than  the  top  notch  of  American  enterprise 
and  exploration.  In  1861  the  formation  of  this  party 
was  accomplished,  and  Joe  Walker  was  selected  as  its 
leader.  Keyesville,  California,  was  the  point  of  ren- 
dezvous, and  from  there  nineteen  men  started  on  their 
long  journey. 

Twenty  years  or  more  before  Captain  Walker  had 
visited  Arizona  with  Carson  and  Weaver.  His  obser- 
vations were  conclusive,  and,  returning,  he  moulded  his 
men  into  a  unit.  His  conception  of  the  land  was  that 
of  game  there  was  an  abundance  of  wood  and  water 
there  was  plenty,  but  above  all  other  things,  surface 
indications  gave  him  the  fondest  hope  that  placer  gold 
and  quartz  veins  of  gold  and  silver  existed.  With  such 


Judge  W.  H.  Kirkland 

""THE  patriotic  Arizona  pioneer,  now  in  his  75th  year  He  has  the 
honor  and  distinction  of  having  raised  the  first  American  flag  in 
Arizona  over  a  Mexican  fort  at  Tucson,  Feb.  20,  1856.  Only  17 
American  were  witnesses  of  the  historic  event,  each  "armed  to  the  teeth". 
Judge  Kirkland  pulled  the  rope  with  one  hand  while  he  held  his  navy 
revolver  in  the  other. 


THE    WHITE    CONQUEST    OF    ARIZONA        13 

tidings  to  allure  the  adventurous,  every  man  of  the 
party  got  into  the  saddle,  and,  with  the  wild  elation 
that  seizes  men  to  make  history  and  to  gain  renown 
in  a  pecuniary  channel,  the  expedition  got  under  head- 
way. The  party  crossed  the  Colorado  river  at  Fort 
Mohave,  and  from  there  wended  its  v/ay  to  the  base 
of  the  San  Francisco  mountains.  Here  a  halt  was 
made  and  an  inventory  of  the  food  supplies  taken.  It 
was  found  that  the  resources  in  this  line  were  insuffi- 
cient to  permit  of  extensive  exploration  in  the  region 
in  which  today  Prescott  and  the  tributary  gold  fields 
exist,  and  after  a  consultation  the  decision  was  arrived 
at  to  continue  on  to  Albuquerque,  New  Mexico.  Break- 
ing camp,  and  in  a  few  weeks  entering  the  Navajo  In- 
dian reservation,  the  troubles  of  the  party  commenced. 
The  Indian  disputed  the  right  of  the  pale  face,  and 
without  any  parleying,  Walker  and  his  party  opened 
hostilities,  killing  several,  and  paving  the  way  for  the 
advance.  Fighting  continued  as  progress  was  made 
to  the  goal,  and  when  the  objective  was  reached  not  a 
man  of  the  party  was  missing,  although  some  had  been 
wounded  by  arrows  from  the  redskins.  The  members 
of  the  party  were  startled  on  arriving  in  Albuquerque 
to  learn  that  the  Civil  War  was  in  progress,  and  for  a 
time  it  was  believed  the  morale  of  the  organization 
would  be  shattered  by  the  eagerness  with  which  sev- 
eral desired  to  go  into  the  field  with  one  or  the  other 
military  forces.  Some  few  enlisted  for  a  limited  time, 
and  when  service  expired  they  retraced  their  footsteps 
to  the  mother  body  and  renewed  with  more  zeal  than 
ever  the  object  of  the  expedition.  In  speaking  of  the 
entry  of  the  party  into  Albuquerque,  a  survivor  of  the 
party  who  is  alive  today  and  resides  in  Prescott,  states 
that  the  Mexican  population  stampeded  when  they  be- 
held the  raiment  of  the  men.  They  were  attired  in 
buckskin  clothes  from  head  to  foot,  the  edges  fringed 
and  highly  colored.  Each  member  was  a  typical  moun- 
taineer, and  when  the  purpose  of  the  organization  was 
learned,  several  recruits  of  the  same  type  heartily  en- 
tered the  enrollment.  In  1862  the  expedition  was  again 
under  headway,  and  following  the  Rio  Grande  and 
crossing  the  Black  Range  of  mountains,  Tucson  was 
reached.  By  this  time  over  thirty  intrepid  men  were 
on  the  roll  call.  From  Tucson  the  party  traveled 
toward  the  northern  fields,  the  point  oirginally  mapped 


i4        THE    WHITE    CONQUEST    OF    ARIZONA 

out.  They  fought  the  savages  in  the  southern  country, 
and  hardly  a  day  passed  without  an  encounter.  Ar- 
riving in  what  is  now  Prescott,  small  wings  of  the  party 
struck  out  in  different  directions  to  explore.  Afte'r 
several  streams  had  been  exploited,  Lynx  Creek,  but 
ten  miles  distant,  was  selected,  placer  gold  being  in 
evidence  in  every  place  dug  into.  Here  the  patry  went 
into  camp  as  a  permanent  organization.  They  were 
successful  in  mining,  and  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
dollars  of  the  "free  stuff"  was  washed  out  of  the  soil. 
It  was  here,  too,  that  the  dismemberment  of  the  or- 
ganization took  place.  One  by  one,  individuals  left, 
and  in  a  few  years  as  an  organization  the  famous 
Walker  party  went  into  shreds. 

The  entry  of  this  party  into  central  and  northern 
Arizona  signalized  an  event  in  history  that  few  appre- 
ciate or  consider  in  this  late  day.  It  was  the  initial  or- 
ganization of  white  men  that  came;  it  was  the  pioneer 
body  that  had  the  nerve  to  settle  an  area  and  mould 
it  into  a  scene  of  life  and  activity;  it  faced  not  a  hab- 
itation ;  not  a  foot  of  the  entire  region  from  Tucson  to 
Fort  Mohave  had  a  spade  full  of  the  ground  tilled ;  not 
a  white  man's  cabin  even  was  in  evidence,  much  less  a 
human  being  of  the  same  race.  It  was  in  all  of  its 
natural  beauty  on  one  hand  and  its  horror  on  the 
other — a  wilderness  of  the  most  bewildering  type.  But 
it  was  conquered,  nevertheless,  and  in  a  few  months 
afterward  the  gold  seeker,  the  home  builder,  the  farm- 
er, the  artisan,  the  politician,  the  bad  men,  came  in 
long  and  continuous  caravans  and  the  country  was 
opened. 

The  original  roll  call  of  this  party  has  been  pre- 
served in  memory's  chain,  and  is  as  follows  when  it 
started  from  California:  Captain  Joe  Walker;  his 
nephews,  Joe  Walker  and  John  Walker ;  John  J.  Miller 
and  his  sons,  S.  C.  Miller  and  Jacob  L.  Miller;  John 
Dickson,  Arthur  Clothier,  Robert  Forsythe,  George 
Lount,  George  Blosser,  Luther  Paine,  George  Coulter, 
Felix  Burton,  Jake  Linn,  Martam  Lewis,  Frank  Finney, 
Colonel  Hardin  and  Dutch  John.  To  which  are  added 
the  following  on  leaving  Albuquerque:  Jackson  Me- 
Crackin,  William  Pointer,  Dan  E.  Connor,  Bob  Noble, 
Jack  Swilling,  Messrs.  Gilliland,  Benedict,  Chase,  the 
Young"  brothers,  and  four  more  whose  names  have  been 
lost.  Of  the  above  cavalcade  that  drove  their  stakes 


Gov.  Goodwin's  Mansion 


RECTED  in  Prescott  in  1864.     Coincident  with  the  erection  oi  this 
building  Prescott  was  proclaimed  the  capital. 


THE    WHITE    CONQUEST    OF    ARIZONA        15 

permanently  in  central  Arizona,  the  Indian  arrow,  dis- 
ease and  old  age  have  thinned  the  ranks  until  but  two 
men  are  alive  today  of  that  memorable  party.  They  are 
Samuel  C.  Miller  and  Dan  E.  Connor.  The  latter  is 
resting  at  his  home  in  the  old  homestead  in  Missouri. 
Mr.  Miller  is  still  on  the  ground  that  he  "picked"  out 
in  1863,  and  which  is  situated  but  one  mile  from  the 
court  house  in  Prescott.  He  was  the  youngest  mem- 
ber of  the  party,  and  mentally  and  physically  is  as  alert 
as  men  of  today  one-half  his  age.  He  said  in  1863 
that  he  came  to  grow  up  with  the  country,  and  is  still 
growing.  So  he  has  the  honor  of  being  the  first  pio- 
neer in  all  of  central  and  northern  Arizona,  alive  today, 
if  he  is  not  in  fact  the  ranking  pioneer  in  continuous 
residence  in  all  of  Arizona. 

OTHER  EXPEDITIONS. 

.Following  close  on  the  heels  of  the  arrival  of  the 
Walker  party,  the  news  of  which  reached  eastern  and 
western  points  of  the  Union  from  six  months  to  a  year 
later,  small  and  large  expeditions  were  formed  and  got 
into  action.  The  incentive  with  some  was  to  get  into 
the  new  gold  fields,  with  others  to  locate  land  for  agri- 
cultural purposes,  to  engage  in  the  lumber  business  and 
merchandise,  to  freight,  and,  in  short,  to  pursue  any 
vocation  or  calling  that  a  new  country  demanded  in 
either  muscle  or  brains.  Accordingly,  the  Santa  Fe 
trail  was  swarming  with  the  hardy  from  every  point 
east  of  the  Rockies,  while  from  the  Pacific  a  stream 
of  adventurers  crossed  the  Colorado  on  the  west.  All 
of  these  expeditions  had  but  one  objective  point,  and 
that  was  the  then  little  hamlet  of  Prescott. 

In  date  of  arrival,  the  Saunders  party  probably  has 
the  honor  of  being  among  the  first  families  to  reach 
this  section.  It  preceded  any  other  by  a  few  months, 
and  came  in  from  the  "inside,"  as  was  the  term  used 
by  the  pioneer  in  the  earlier  days  when  referring  to 
California.  They  located  in  the  village  of  Prescott 
in  March  of  1864,  and  the  following  people  comprised 
its  makeup:  Julius  Saunders  and  his  wife,  and  their 
children — Mary  Frances,  Pete,  Tom,  Irvine  and  Rob, 
and  Jerome  Calkins.  Many  of  the  offspring  of  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Saunders  are  still  living  and  have  continued 
to  claim  this  section  as  their  home.  The  only  daugh- 
ter, Mary  Frances,  is  the  wife  of  Sam  C.  Miller,  and 


16       THE    WHITE    CONQUEST    OF    ARIZONA 

resides  with  her  husband  on  the  old  homestead  one 
mile  west  of  Prescott.  Tom,  Irvine  and  Rob  are  also 
alive,  the  two  former  living  in  Arizona  and  the  latter 
in  California. 

The  Lee  party  reached  Prescott  from  the  East  in 
1864.  The  personnel  was  made  up  of  Charley  Beach, 
Louis  Huning,  Andy  Steinbrook  and  wife,  J.  H.  Lee 
and  wife,  Captain  Hargrave,  Lieut.  Taylor,  and  others 
whose  names  are  not  recalled.  Aside  from  Indian  con- 
flicts the  journey  was  uneventful.  They  lost  none  of 
the  members  of  the  party,  however,  but  suffered  many 
hardships. 

The  Wells  party  was  another  notable  combination 
of  "early  birds"  to  venture  in.  It  originally  was  mus- 
tered at  Denver,  and  E.  W.  Wells,  Sr.,  was  entrusted 
to  guiding  it.  As  it  traveled  through  Colorado  it  be- 
gan to  grow  as  a  snowball  does  when  in  motion,  and 
when  old  Fort  Wingate  was  reached  it  was  composed 
of  over  65  members,  there  being  several  small  boys 
and  girls  in  the  party.  At  this  military  post  the  com- 
mand was  halted  and  forbidden  to  proceed  by  the 
commanding  officers,  news  being  received  that  it  was 
a  perilous  undertaking,  owing  to  the  general  uprising 
among  the  Indians  in  Arizona.  Two  months  passed 
and,  taking  the  bit  in  his  mouth,  Captain  Wells  broke 
through  the  cordon  and  arrived  in  Prescott  in  1864, 
after  several  Indian  skirmishes,  but  fortunate  in  not 
losing  any  members.  Surviving  this  expedition  are 
Judge  E.  W.  Wells  of  Prescott,  a  son  of  the  captain ; 
Dr.  Sweatnam  of  Phoenix,  together  with  several  of 
the  children  of  the  senior  Osborn,  among  the  latter 
being  Neri,  John  and  William  and  two  daughters. 

Following  the  Wells  party  came  Joseph  Ehle  and 
wife  with  several  of  their  chidlren,  and  others.  Mr. 
Ehle  desired  to  go  into  the  live  stock  business  and 
open  a  "long-felt  want"  in  this  section  in  the  shape 
of  a  dairy.  He  had  a  string  of  over  200  head  of  fine 
milch  cows  on  leaving  Albuquerque,  and  when  his 
party  reached  Prescott  the  total  number  had  dwindled 
to  three  bulls  and  one  sickly  heifer,  the  Indians  pick- 
ing them  off  one  by  one  in  the  three  months  they  were 
on  the  road.  Mr.  Ehle  still  survives  the  vicissitudes 
of  the  early  days,  as  also  do  his  daughters,  Mrs.  James 
M.  Baker,  Mrs.  John  Dickson,  and  his  son,  John.  The 
latter  has  closed  66  years  on  this  earth,  and  but  a  few 


Hon.  and  Mrs.  Samuel  Miller 

1VA  R.  Miller  killed  the  Indian  Chief  Wauba  Uba,  and  saved  the  lives  of 
many    men,    woman  and   children.     Mrs.  Miller  is   the  pioneer 
woman  of  Northern  and  Central  Arizona. 


THE    WHITE    CONQUEST    OF    ARIZONA        17 

weeks  ago  entered  the  home  stretch  on  the  matrimonial 
track.  Joseph  Ehle  is  now  entering  the  ninety-fifth 
year  of  his  life. 

Another  arrival  of  pioneers  with  their  wives  and 
children  consisted  of  the  Alexanders,  Varney  A.  Steph- 
ens, George  Banghart,  D.  W.  Shivers,  Jacob  Kelsey, 
Mrs.  Brown  and  many  others  of  the  '60  era  whose 
names  cannot  now  be  recalled  from  that  dim  day. 
These  noble  women  braved  with  the  men  all  the  trials 
and  vicissitudes  of  the  day,  and  in  many  individual 
instances  they  were  just  as  courageous  and  self-sac- 
rificing as  their  male  companions,  whether  husband 
or  brother.  When  history  pictures  the  true  story  of 
the  Apache,  and  when  it  recites  the  heroism  of  the 
fair  sex,  a  beautiful  parallel  will  be  drawn  to  prove 
that  American  womanhood  in  the  '6o's  along  the  Has- 
sayampa  was  an  exact  counterpart  that  succored  the 
pioneer  in  Minnesota,  in  the  Dakotas  and  other  fron- 
tier days  when  the  Star  of  Empire  was  racing  west- 
ward. 

BEGINNING   OF    INDIAN    HOSTILITIES. 

Coincident  with  the  arrival  of  the  Walker  party,  or 
practically  a  short  time  thereafter,  the  horizon  began 
to  assume  an  ominous  hue,  so  far  as  relations  between 
the  white  and  the  red  man  are  to  be  considered.  The 
Apache  demanded  a  tithe  for  the  use  of  the  grass  to 
feed  the  animals,  the  water  was  to  be  paid  for,  the 
game  belonged  to  the  God  of  the  Happy  Hunting 
Ground,  and  other  ingenious  exactions  were  demanded 
from  the  pale  face.  Seven  miles  south  of  Prescott  this 
formal  demand  was  made,  and  no  sooner  was  it  done 
than  a  shot  rang  from  the  rifle  in  answer.  Thus  the 
horrible  drama  of  Indian  warfare  was  begun  in  the 
winter  of  '63,  and  it  did  not  cease  till  ten  years  later. 
In  that  time  what  a  frightful  retrospect  to  look  upon ! 
From  one  to  the  other  of  the  then  twenty  tribes  it 
was  flashed  from  the  mountain  tops  by  signal  fires  and 
other  means  to  exterminate  the  whites.  The  govern- 
ment at  Washington  was  appealed  to,  and  it  sent  its 
soldiers.  But  the  handful  was  like  feeding  the  flames 
of  a  Vesuvius.  The  military  were  good  as  far  as  they 
went,  but  they  were  here  to  hold  and  preserve  the  do- 
main from  invasion  by  the  South,  and,  and  their  zone 
was  practically  limited  in  consequence.  But  what  ser- 


i8       THE    WHITE    CONQUEST    OF    ARIZONA 

vice  was  performed  was  valiant  and  to  their  credit. 
The  civilian — and  by  that  I  mean  the  pioneer — took 
the  matter  in  hand  and  without  any  authority,  and 
without  a  dollar  in  pay.  The  regular  military  service 
was  but  an  auxiliary  to  the  citizen,  but  they  performed 
praiseworthy  duty  in  every  instance.  This  was  the 
critical  era  in  northern  and  central  Arizona,  when  the 
scales  were  trembling,  as  it  were,  in  the  balance.  Men 
from  every  camp  volunteered;  all  organizations  with 
a  kindred  feeling  worked  and  acted  in  unison.  The 
Civil  War  struggle  between  the  North  and  South  was 
brushed  aside,  and  a  common  cause  faced  all.  Those 
who  still  survive  those  perilous  days  whisper  modestly 
in  the  ear  of  their  inquirer  and  answer  with  one  word : 
It  was  "hell."  Shortly  after  the  beginning  of  the 
Indian  warfare,  late  in  the  fall  of  the  same  year,  Gen- 
eral Craig,  in  command  of  the  military  and  civilians, 
made  an  expedition  to  the  south  of  the  Hassayampa 
and  annihilated,  in  the  Bradshaw  range,  two  large 
bands  of  Indians.  For  this  grateful  work  Washing- 
ton advices  a  few  months  later  were  received  peremp- 
torily ordering  him  to  relinquish  his  command  and 
report  forthwith  at  Fort  Churchill,  Nevada,  for  "duty." 
The  sentimentalists  of  the  East,  the  weak-kneed  breth- 
ren, in  other  words,  had  got  in  their  work  and  reached 
the  soft  side  of  the  ear  of  the  powers  that  be.  But 
this  had  the  opposite  effect  so  far  as  the  civilian  was 
to  be  reckoned  with. 
At  this  juncture  the 

GHASTLY   PINOI^   TREATY 

came  into  life  and  was  executed  without  a  hitch.  It 
may  or  may  not  be  termed  a  just  measure,  but  at  any 
rate  the  trick  was  played,  and  it  performed  the  purpose 
it  was  intended  for.  At  this  particular  time  King  S. 
Woolsey,  a  civilian,  had  been  combing  the  mountains 
and  canyons  of  the  country  with  a  handful  of  men, 
and  bringing  out  the  Indian.  He  was  tireless  in  his 
operations,  and  wherever  he  ventured  there  was  some- 
thing to  place  in  deposit  in  his  bank,  as  he  termed  it. 
He  scoured  every  nook  and  corner  with  the  men  under 
him,  and  hundreds  of  Indians  fell.  This  was  what  was 
known  as  "Woolsey's  First  Expedition/  'or,  to  be  more 
exact,  the  Pinole  Treaty  on  the  side.  Securing  a  large 
quantity  of  corn,  wheat  and  barley,  the  orthodox  dish 


THE    WHITE    CONQUEST    OF    ARIZONA        19 

known  to  the  Mexican  as  ''pinole,"  a  favorite  viand 
with  the  Indian  as  well,  was  prepared,  and  under  a  flag 
of  truce  he  asked  for  a  consultation  with  the  chiefs  of 
two  tribes.  This  was  granted  and  the  preliminaries 
were  arranged.  Both  parties  congregated  at  a  given 
point,  and  the  big  pow-wow  was  started.  A  prelimi- 
nary was  the  distribution  around  the  camp-fire  of  the 
pinole,  and  in  addition  the  traditional  pipe  of  peace 
was  being  indulged  in.  In  a  few  minutes  after  the 
assemblage  got  in  working  order,  and  while  the  food 
was  being  devoured,  Indians  began  to  groan  piteously 
and  fall  into  the  circle  in  front.  At  this  juncture 
Woolsey  gave  the  signal  to  begin  operations,  at  the 
same  time  whipping  out  his  six-shooter  and  shooting 
the  two  chiefs  dead  in  their  tracks.  What  the  bullet 
did  not  hit,  the  pinole  did.  The  latter  was  said  to  be 
"spiced"  up  with  strychnine.  The  casualties  were 
frightful  on  the  Indian  side,  and  the  two  bands  were 
practically  annihilated.  Some  authorities  state  that 
over  150  Indians  were  "murdered,"  while  others  say 
that  105  were  killed,  the  other  45,  the  difference  in  the 
grand  total,  succumbing  from  acute  cholera  morbus. 
At  any  rate,  the  celebrated  Pinole  Treaty  opened  still 
wider  the  flood  gates  of  the  bloody  days  that  followed 
for  nearly  a  decade,  and  of  which  I  shall  write  in  fu- 
ture chapters  of  this  history. 

PART  II. 
WOOLSEY'S  SECOND  EXPEDITION. 

IN  the  next  year  Woolsey  again  came  into  promi- 
nence in  his  Indian  work.  He  cut  loose  from  the 
military  that  was  now  coming  in,  and,  in  turn, 
the  military  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  him.  He 
organized  another  expedition  and  had  101  men  with 
him.  His  headquarters  were  at  the  Woolsey  ranch. 
The  railroad  today  runs  within  fifty  feet  of  it  on  the 
Prescott  and  Bradshaw  Mountain  line.  It  is  less 
than  20  miles  distant  from  Prescott.  Woolsey  worked 
stealthily  and  entrusted  his  plans  to  none  but  his 
closest  friends  and  supporters.  Being  asked  one  day 
where  his  pay  came  from,  and  why  he  was  so  deter- 
mined in  his  Indian  warfare,  he  simply  opened  his 
vest  on  the  left  side  and  placing  his  hand  over  his 
heart  said  that  was  the  motive  power  behind  his  body. 


20       THE    WHITE    CONQUEST    OF    ARIZONA 

His  second  venture  proved  more  bloody  than  the 
first.  It  occupied  the  field  for  over  a  month  and  was 
unmerciful  and  vicious  in  its  work.  No  prisoners 
were  taken,  and  after  the  big  "clean-up,"  as  it  was 
termed,  had  taken  place,  Woolsey  moved  away  and 
settled  in  what  is  now  the  Salt  River  Valley.  He 
was  a  magnificent  type  of  manhood.  Standing  over 
six  feet  in  his  bare  feet,  with  eyes  and  hair  as  black 
as  jet,  with  a  frame  perfect  in  its  symmetrical  propor- 
tions, he  commanded  attention  at  all  times.  He  was 
always  reticent,  was  as  true  as  steel  to  all,  and  was 
never  known  to  prove  false  to  any  one.  He  was  in 
the  late  7o's  chosen  to  preside  over  the  Senate  of  Ari- 
zona, and  his  fair  dealings  with  the  members  again 
stamped  upon  his  official  duties  the  same  justice  that 
followed  him  in  his  fight  against  the  Apache.  In  a 
convention  he  was  later  nominated  for  Congress,  but 
was  defeated  at  the  election.  He  passed  away  a 
short  time  afterward  in  Phoenix,  and  lies  buried — 
well,  no  one  knows  where. 

A   ONE-MAN    ARMY. 

In  the  long  chain  of  personal  reminiscences  of  the 
Apache  days  it  would  simply  be  criminal  not  to  take 
one  big  link  from  the  same  in  another  personal  channel, 
and  include  the  name  of  John  Townsend,  and  give  all 
the  honor  that  is  possible  to  him  in  his  career  during 
these  trying  times.  His  name  is  idolized  wherever  it 
is  heard,  and  he  stands  alongside  of  the  late  General 
Crook  in  the  affections  of  the  people.  He  fought  the 
Apache  single-handed,  and  trustworthy  sources  state 
that  he  killed  at  least  sixty-five  of  them,  and  without 
any  assistance  whatever.  At  one  time  he  was  em- 
ployed under  General  Crook  as  a  scout  and  when  the 
command  left  Fort  Whipple,  Townsend  was  with  it. 
As  the  column  came  into  the  zone  where  the  Indians 
had  been  located  he  broke  loose  and  went  at  it  single- 
handed.  Returning,  he  displayed  fifteen  scalps,  while 
the  soldiers  had  not  a  single  victim  to  their  credit. 

This  incensed  General  Crook,  and  he  immediately 
discharged  Townsend.  Behind  this  intrepid  man 
there  was  but  one  thing  for  him  to  live  for,  so  inform- 
ants say,  and  that  was  the  extermination  of  the  Indian. 
It  was  due  to  the  loss  of  his  father  and  mother  by 
the  Comanche  when  he  was  a  child  in  the  cradle,  and 


Joseph  Ehle 

V TOW  in  his  95th  year.  Said  to  be  the  oldest  living-  Mason  in  the 
*  United  States.  He  is  still  vigorous  in  Prescott  where  he  has 
resided  during  the  past  44  years. 


THE    WHITE    CONQUEST    OF    ARIZONA       21 

the  most  beautiful  anticipation  in  life  that  he  looked 
ahead  to  was  when  an  Apache  got  within  range  of 
his  gun.  With  all  of  the  man's  bravery  he  was  en- 
dowed with  a  fertile  brain,  and  was  well  trained  in  an 
intellectual  way.  His  method  of  operating  against 
the  Indian  was  to  go  alone  into  the  mountains  and 
hide  out,  and  locate  his  game.  He  would  never  falter 
at  numbers,  but  shield  himself  in  a  position  that  was 
impregnable  and  secure  from  an  attack  from  the  rear. 
So  universal  was  the  affection  for  him  that  he  was 
called  to  Prescott  in  the  zenith  of  his  glory,  and  in 
an  open  meeting  presented  with  a  handsome  Win- 
chester and  a  thousand  rounds  of  ammunition.  To 
this  gracious  act  he  responded  in  feeling  language, 
and  in  a  few  days  the  tidings  reached  the  people 
that  the  gun  was  doing  good  work,  and  was  a  dandy, 
which  was  suggestive  that  Townsend  was  on  the 
firing  line  again.  But  with  all  of  his  cunning  and  his 
bravery,  he  fell  a  victim  to  the  Indians  and  put  his 
foot  in  the  same  trap  that  had  been  laid  for  them  so 
many  times.  He  followed  a  band  and  ascended  a 
mountain  for  observation.  He  had  reached  the  most 
elevated  point — Dripping  Springs — and  here  his  life 
ended.  He  was  shot  through  and  through,  and  from 
the  location  of  the  wounds  must  have  expired  at  once. 
His  horse,  on  which  he  usually  traveled,  remained  be- 
side its  master  for  at  least  five  days,  pawing  the  soil 
near  him  in  an  endeavor  to  rouse  him.  When  the 
body  began  to  decompose  the  keen  sense  of  smell  told 
the  animal  that  death  had  taken  place.  Measuring  the 
hoof  steps  of  the  animal  down  the  mountain  side  and 
the  space  between  the  steps  on  level  ground  below,  the 
horse  walked  slowly  down  the  incline,  but  on  level 
ground  must  have  galloped  to  the  Townsend  ranch 
without  a  break  in  speed  for  over  ten  miles.  The 
appearance  of  the  horse,  riderless,  alarmed  the  neigh- 
borhood, and  trailing  the  tracks,  a  party  found  the 
body  in  a  badly  decomposed  condition.  His  remains 
were  brought  to  Prescott  for  burial,  and  now  lie  in 
the  Masonic  cemetery,  of  which  Order  he  was  a 
member.  Until  a  decade  ago  his  grave  was  marked 
with  an  ordinary  head-board,  but  time  has  obliterated 
the  plot  where  John  Townsend  is  sleeping  today. 

MEMORABLE  INDIAN  FIGHTS. 

During  the  carnival  of  blood  that  extended  from 


22        THE    WHITE    CONQUEST    OF    ARIZONA 

1863  to  1873,  over  600  white  men  were  killed  by  the 
Indians  in  that  zone  lying  north  of  the  Gila  and  Salt 
Rivers.  These  fatalities  were  confined  principally  to 
"picking  off"  travelers  in  parties  of  from  two  to  five. 
Organized  bodies  were  very  seldom  molested,  except- 
ing of  course,  the  military  operations  in  a  general 
fight.  Many  ranchers  fell  in  the  field  while  at  work  or 
in  going  from  home  to  a  neighbor.  Invariably  the 
white  victim  was  scalped  and  horribly  mutilated  other- 
wise. As  there  is  no  record  of  many  events,  the  more 
important  of  the  combats  will  be  mentioned,  and  as 
they  are  recalled  by  those  who  were  conversant  with  or 
were  principals  in  them. 

AT  PRESCOTT. — During  the  construction  of  the  gu- 
bernatorial mansion  in  '64,  the  carpenters  engaged 
were  "annoyed"  they  say  by  the  Indians  creeping  up 
in  range  and  bothering  them  by  imitating  the  coyote 
so  as  to  attract  them  to  the  rocks  and  timber  near  by. 
The  decoy  was  short-lived,  however.  While  the  men 
continued  their  labor  on  the  building  another  party 
ricochetted  around  the  hill  and  there  were  three  "good" 
Indians  less.  At  another  time  the  Apaches  entered  the 
town  in  numbers  at  dusk,  killing  one  man  and  stam- 
peding all  the  milch  cows  in  the  burg.  A  posse  got 
into  action  and  returned  in  two  hours.  There  was 
nothing  doing  after  that,  and  there  were  several  In- 
dians to  the  good. 

AT  BATTLE  FLAT. — While  returning  from  a  mine 
prospecting  trip  in  the  '6o's  Fred  Henry,  Frank  Short, 
Sam  Small  and  Messrs.  Hinckler  and  Binkley  were 
attacked  just  after  coming  down  the  northern  slope  of 
the  Bradshaws.  They  made  a  run  for  the  open  and 
level  ground  adjacent,  and  there  stood.  This  fight 
goes  down  in  history  as  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
and  noteworthy  in  Arizona  history  of  the  Apache  days, 
and  is  still  rehearsed  at  every  opportunity.  Each 
member  of  this  quintette  was  shot  from  five  to  fifteen 
times,  but  not  one  was  killed.  The  combat  lasted  for 
over  twelve  hours,  and  over  160  Indians  were  engaged. 
The  strongest  man  of  the  party,  physically,  at  night 
broke  through  the  cordon  and  wended  his  way  to 
Walnut  Grove  for  relief,  but  owing  to  his  wounds 
made  slow  progress.  He  was  Hinckler.  The  distance 
was  eight  miles,  and  the  next  morning  their  rescue 
was  accomplished,  and  just  as  the  redskins  were  re- 


THE    WHITE    CONQUEST    OF    ARIZONA        23 

forming  for  a  final  attack.  Over  40  Indians  were 
killed.  The  four  men  were  "all  in"  and  one  Mr. 
Binkley  had  one  eye  shot  out,  and  the  eyesight  of  the 
other  was  gone.  Later,  however,  his  wounded  eye 
regained  sight.  This  little  band  had  not  a  morsel  of 
food  or  a  drop  of  water  for  over  36  hours,  and  with 
their  ammunition  nearly  exhausted. 

SKULL  VALLEY. — To  those  who  today  travel  on 
the  railroad  to  the  south  from  Prescott  they  will  hear 
the  cry  of  Skull  Valley  from  the  conductor.  That 
means  nothing  to  the  ordinary  traveler.  But  to  the 
pioneer  it  echoes  and  re-echoes.  It  was  here  that  there 
was  something  on  the  boards  in  the  drama  of  the  In- 
dian days.  The  story  is  told  that  the  baptism  was 
deserved  and  well  earned.  M.  P.  Freeman  was 
camped  here  with  a  long  string  of  teams  en  route  to 
Prescott  in  the  6o's,  with  freight.  The  Indians  (and 
there  were  over  400  of  them)  desired  to  make  a 
"treaty"  with  the  owner.  They  only  wanted  the 
horses  and  mules,  some  100  in  number,  while  the 
owner  could  take  all  the  provisions  excepting  the  flour. 
Freeman's  answer  was  both  barrels  of  a  shot  gun, 
and  seven  Indians  and  three  spokes  of  a  wagon  fell 
to  the  ground.  Then  the  ball  opened,  and  the  slaugh- 
ter began.  There  were  21  white  men  and  33  Mexi- 
cans on  one  side,  and  at  least  400  Indians  on  the 
other.  The  fatalities  were  frightful,  and  many  valu- 
able animals  were  killed.  The  Indians'  loss  was  over 
75,  while  the  whites  had  several  killed  and  nearly 
every  man  was  wounded.  In  this  fight  Mr.  Binckley, 
one  of  the  heroes  of  Battle  Flat,  was  also  engaged, 
but  was  not  hit.  As  he  said  afterward,  "1  had  all  the 
lead  I  could  carry  anyway,  but  didn't  I  get  even  that 
day ! — and  with  only  one  good  eye !"  The  carcasses  of 
the  dead  animals  were  permitted  to  lie  on  the  ground ; 
hence  in  later  years  there  were  many  skulls  to  give 
the  place  the  name  that  time  does  not  efface. 

WHAT  A  BOY'S  PLAYHOUSE  DID. — A  pathetic  story 
is  that  attending  the  memorable  fight  at  Fort  Rock, 
christened  so  from  the  part  a  little  boulder  figured  in 
the  combat.  Thad  Buckman,  a  boy  but  twelve  years  of 
age,  had  constructed  around  the  cabin  where  his  father 
and  mother  lived,  a  playhouse  of  little  rocks,  forming 
them  into  a  semi-circle.  One  boulder  was  the  chim- 
ney, about  twelve  inches  high  and  eight  wide.  Pat 


24       THE    WHITE    CONQUEST    OF    ARIZONA 

McAteer,  William  Poindexter,  a  soldier  carrying  the 
mail,  the  Senior  Buckman,  and  two  or  three  others 
were  attacked  here  by  over  100  Indians.  They  were  all 
on  the  outside,  conversing.  The  first  volley  wounded 
all,  and  all  but  McAteer  retreated  to  the  cabin,  wound- 
ed. The  latter  dropped  down  into  the  playhouse  and 
commenced  a  fusillade,  being  partly  secluded  from 
view  by  the  boy's  handiwork.  The  boulder  he  used  as 
a  protection  for  his  head  and  it  well  served  the  pur- 
pose. McAteer's  position  on  the  outside  was  a  fa- 
vorable one.  The  bullet  would  strike  a  rock  and 
ricochet,  and  from  the  port  holes  in  the  building  the 
location  of  the  Indian  would  be  told  him,  hence  he 
could  locate  the  devils.  During  this  fight,  the  boy 
in  the  cabin  was  lying  wounded  with  both  legs  broken 
by  a  bullet.  His  father  and  mother  would  gently  raise 
him  up  and  hold  his  face  to  the  port  hole,  and  he 
would  fire.  Every  shot  counted.  His  aim  was  un- 
erring. Locating  the  chief  of  the  tribe  riding  over 
300  yards  away,  the  boy  was  again  raised  to  the  open- 
ing, and  fired  his  last  shot.  It  brought  the  chief  to  the 
ground,  and  the  fight  was  at  an  end,  after  an  all-day 
battle.  The  Indians  left  the  field  at  once.  In  after 
years  this  slab  of  rock  was  put  away.  It  showed  the 
dents  of  many  bullets,  and  probably  saved  the  party 
from  a  horrible  fate.  Over  30  Indians  were  killed  in 
this  memorable  fight,  and  to  this  day  the  place  bears 
the  unique  name  of  Fort  Rock,  from  that  little  inci- 
dent of  a  boy's  unintentionally  built  fortress. 

SAM  MILLER'S  NERVE. — Every  pioneer  of  Northern 
Arizona  knows  of  Sam  Miller,  or  is  personally  ac- 
quainted with  him.  He  was  the  "kid"  of  the  famous 
Walker  party,  and  piloted  the  corvettes  of  the  Colorado 
desert  from  the  time  that  the  memory  of  man  knoweth 
not.  In  the  vernacular  of  a  day  gone  by  he  was  the 
"boss"  freighter  on  the  road,  and  had  the  slickest  lot  of 
mules  that  ever  came  from  Missouri.  He  went  out  of 
the  business  just  as  the  Southern  Pacific  railroad  left 
Dos  Palms,  because  the  opposition  of  the  iron  horse 
pinched  him  down  to  short  rations  for  his  mules.  So  he 
quit  the  road,  and  went  to  mining  and  is  now  engaged 
in  praying  for  rain  on  a  dry  ranch.  In  the  early  days 
Mr.  Miller  took  passengers  along  with  merchandise, 
Pullman  accommodations  barred.  He  left  Hardyville 
on  the  Colorado  river  on  one  trip  loaded  to  the  brim  on 


Col.  Alex.  A.  Brodie,  U.  S.  A. 

CAMOUS  in  the  Apache  and  Nez  Perce  wars  and  also  as  Major  of 
the  Rough  Riders  in  the  Cuban  war. 


THE    WHITE    CONQUEST    OF    ARIZONA       25 

the  main  deck,  and  in  the  "trail"  wagon  there  were 
three  families,  and  that  means  several  women  and  more 
children.    George  Banghart  was  among  the  passengers, 
and  with  his  wife  and  four  young  ladies,  the  precious- 
ness  of  the  occasion  will  be  appreciated,  as  these  ladies 
were  gifted  with  more  than  the  ordinary  beauty  and 
personal  accomplishments.     Mr.  Miller,  on  the  other 
hand,  says  he  was  "skeered"  up  somewhat  as  the  route 
of  his  journey  lay  through  the  Wallapai  country.    The 
trip  was  uneventful  until  Beale  Springs  was  reached, 
and  the  many  wagons  were  parked  for  the  night.    As 
the  sun  was  setting,  the  horizon  seeemd  to  be  alive  with 
the  red  devils,  and  it  seemed  to  Mr.  Miller  that  the 
entire  tribe  was  in  action.     Suddenly  the  head  man  of 
the  tribe,    Wauba  Uba,    rode    up    and    demanded    a 
"treaty,"   saying  that  the  horses  and  mules  and  the 
flour  was  all  that  was  needed.     The  argument  was 
brief.     Mr.  Miller  reached  for  his  Hawkins  rifle  and 
sent  a  bullet  crashing  through  the  lungs  of  the  Indian, 
tearing  a  hole  in  his  body  as  big  as  his  hand..    Imme- 
diately there  were  preparations  made  to  resist  an  at- 
tack.    This  was  unnecessary.     Beingt  trained  to  know 
the  characteristics  of  the  Indians,  Mr.  Miller  knew  that 
when  once  a  chief  falls  the  "jig  is  up."    He  allayed  all 
fears,  and  felt  "very  comfortable."     The  entire  band 
dispersed,  and  from  that  time  there  was  no  sign  of 
Indians  on  the  road  to  Prescott.     Had  the  demand  of 
Wauba  Uba  been  complied  with  there  is  no  question 
in  Mr.  Miller's  mind  that  a  massacre  would  have  fol- 
lowed pell  mell,  and  the  women  would  have  been  taken 
into  captivity.    The  rifle  that  did  the  "business"  is  still 
in  possession  of  Mr.  Miller,  and  may  be  seen  at  his 
home  in  Prescott.     There  is  one  woman  residing  in 
Prescott  today  who  was  present  on  that  critical  even- 
ing; she  is  Mrs.  E.  W.  Wells,  a  daughter  of  the  late 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Banghart.    She  is  the  wife  of  Judge  E. 
W.  Wells,  and  in  the  6o's,  shortly  after  the  memorable 
event  at  Beale  Springs,  she  was  married.     She  still 
talks  of  the  narrow  escape  that  signalized  her  coming  to 
Prescott. 

THE:  WICKENBURG  MASSACRE. — This  is  the  old  story 
of  a  stage  coach  full  of  human  beings  being  ambushed 
and  slaughtered.  It  is  still  referred  to,  and  has  been 
the  subject  time  and  again  of  magazine  articles  and 
theoretical  speculation  as  to  some  of  its  inside  work- 


26       THE    WHITE    CONQUEST    OF    ARIZONA 

ings  and  strange  perplexities  in  certain  lines  covering 
the  deed.  The  story  goes  thus,  and  the  reader  can 
draw  his  own  conclusions :  The  regular  mail  stage  had 
left  Prescott,  and  in  about  fifteen  hours  had  reached 
Wickenburg.  From  there  the  route  lay  to  Cullen's 
Well,  and  thence  to  the  Colorado.  The  destination  was 
San  Francisco,  and  the  passengers  were:  Frederick 
Shoholm,  F.  W.  Loring,  P.  M.  Hammel,  W.  G.  Salmon, 
C.  S.  Adams,  Mollie  Sheppard,  and  William  Kruger, 
with  a  man  named  Lang  as  the  driver.  The  stage  was 
attacked  by  Indians  nine  miles  from  Wickenburg,  and 
the  only  survivors  were  the  woman  and  Kruger.  Of 
these  two  latter  it  is  best  not  to  dwell  too  exhaustively, 
but  suffice  to  say  that  the  woman  was  a  notorious  cour- 
tesan, while  the  man  was  nothing  more  nor  less  than 
her  "lover."  She  had  a  large  sum  of  money  on  her 
person,  while  he  had  nothing  but  the  ill-gotten  gains  of 
her  life  to  draw  on.  The  men  who  were  murdered  by 
Indians  or  any  one  else  had  just  closed  their  business 
deals  and  were  en  route  to  the  coast  and  Eastern  points, 
in  the  aggregate  having  over  $100,000  in  cash  with 
them.  In  the  beginning  of  this  massacre  the  woman 
was  slightly  wounded  while  her  male  companion  es- 
caped without  a  scratch.  Talk  to  the  men  who  were 
on  the  scene  in  that  day,  and  who  are  yet  alive — they 
will  significantly  place  their  finger  to  their  lips  and  say 

they  "don't  care  to  talk  about  the  d d  thing." 

BRODIE'S  LIVELY  SKIRMISH. — It  is  not  generally 
known  that  the  late  Governor  of  Arizona,  Colonel  Bro- 
die,  now  of  the  U.  S.  Army,  is  a  graduate  of  the  West 
Point  military  school.  Such  is  a  fact.  His  first  field 
experience  was  had  at  Camp  Apache,  under  the  late 
General  Crook.  It  was  here  that  he  distinguished  him- 
self, being  at  that  time  a  lieutenant  in  the  Second  U.  S. 
cavalry.  To  him  was  assigned  the  delicate  duty  of 
escorting  General  Howard,  then  inspector-general  of 
the  department,  out  of  Camp  Apache  to  a  command 
that  was  to  take  him  to  the  southern  posts  of  the  terri- 
tory. This  mission  was  fulfilled.  In  returning  with 
a  squad  of  his  cavalry  and  when  within  a  few  miles  of 
his  post,  he  was  ambushed  by  the  White  Mountain 
Apaches.  The  troopers  triumphed,  and  the  Indians 
were  driven  in  retreat,  many  being  killed.  The  shoot- 
ing was  heard  at  the  post,  and  the  entire  garrison  was 
soon  under  arms,  and  came  to  his  relief.  So  brilliant 


Gen.  George  Crook 

\X7HOM  the  Apaches  called  "The  Gray  Fox."  He  was  the  most 
famous  Indian  Fighter  of  his  time.  This  photograph  was  taken 
in  Prescott  in  1874  after  Crook  had  subdued  the  Apaches,  on  which 
occasion  the  citizens  held  a  celebration  in  his  honor.  General  Crook 
died  in  1890. 


THE    WHITE    CONQUEST    OF    ARIZONA       27 

was  Brodie's  handling  of  the  situation,  and  so  courage- 
ously was  it  executed,  that  an  order  of  the  War  De- 
partment at  Washington  was  issued  commending  him 
for  his  zeal  and  valor.  The  order  was  posted  at  West 
Point  in  the  armory  on  official  orders  of  the  Secretary 
of  War.  Later  Brodie  was  sent  to  the  Lava  Beds  of 
the  North,  and  again  came  into  prominence  in  the  In- 
dian wars  there.  He  resigned  from  the  army  and  re- 
turned to  Prescott  to  live.  In  the  Spanish-American 
war  he  again  entered  the  army,  and  at  San  Juan  his 
military  training  and  keen  knowledge  of  field  tactics 
again  were  well  demonstrated,  and  his  name  was  at 
the  top  when  that  war  closed  and  the  Rough  Riders 
were  moulded  into  the  nation's  history.  He  was  ap- 
pointed governor  of  Arizona  after  this  war,  and  is  now 
permanently  identified  with  the  regular  army  as  a 
colonel.  He  is  probably  the  last  of  the  old  school  of 
soldiers  in  active  service  today  who  served  under  Gen- 
eral Crook.  He  is  a  typical  Western  man  in  nature, 
and  will  do  to  tie  to  at  the  head  of  a  command  when 
anything  is  on  the  programme. 

CROOK  AND  HIS  WORK. 

In  1870  General  Crook  was  ordered  from  Oregon 
to  Arizona.  It  was  the  most  auspicious  event  that  ever 
blessed  the  territory.  His  fame  preceded  him  and  his 
arrival  was  the  beginning  of  the  end  of  the  Apache. 
Up  to  this  time  the  military  under  many  leaders  had 
succeeded  just  enough  to  make  the  Indians  more  deter- 
mined and  accordingly  more  courageous.  General 
Stoneman,  General  Howard,  and  all  the  subalterns  had 
performed  their  work  in  an  apathetic  manner,  and  the 
Indian  ring,  or  bureau,  as  it  was  called,  strangled  the 
military  to  a  standstill.  Collier,  by  his  methods,  had 
practically  dug  trenches  in  which  the  blood  of  the 
whites  flowed  unceasingly,  and  in  addition,  the  military 
and  the  civilians  were  at  dagger  points  at  all  times. 
The  Indian  nature  was  not  known  in  the  earlier  days, 
and  treaty  making  was  but  a  hoodwink — an  open  door 
by  which  the  Indian  could  go  or  come  at  will.  The 
sentiment  of  the  church  in  the  East  was  antagonistic 
toward  a  continuation  of  the  warfare,  and  they  handi- 
capped the  execution  of  field  operations  to  a  degree  that 
must  have  pleased  the  Indian.  With  the  coming  of 
Crook  these  stupid  plans  were  crucified.  The  civil 


28       THE    WHITE    CONQUEST    OF    ARIZONA 

and  the  military  were  drawn  closer  together,  and  the 
relations  between  them  were  soon  cemented  in  the 
strongest  ties  of  devotion  and  fellowship.  More  troops 
were  asked  and  given  Crook,  as  it  was  his  purpose  to 
conquer  by  over-aweing  them  in  numbers  and  not  by 
slaughter.  This  pleased  the  sentimental  fraternity  of 
the  nation — the  church.  It  also  pleased  Crook.  The 
Indian,  after  Crook  arrived,  was  given  to  understand 
that  once  a  treaty  was  agreed  upon  no  one  chief  was 
to  execute  it,  but  all  the  chiefs  of  all  the  tribes  were 
to  subscribe.  Heretofore  but  a  small  band  of  a  big 
tribe  and  one  sub-chief  had  performed  this  service 
which  was  binding  only  upon  that  one  and  a  few  fol- 
lowers. Crook's  alternative  was  to  fight.  Several  of 
the  big  chiefs  chose  the  field,  and  the  warfare  continued 
for  over  two  years. 

With  the  hearty  co-operation  of  the  civilians,  the 
military  under  the  new  regime  got  down  to  work  in 
earnest.  Fort  Whipple  was  made  the  headquarters  of 
the  Department  of  Arizona,  and  within  striking  dis- 
tance were  Camp  Verde  on  the  east,  Date  Creek  on 
the  southwest,  and  Wallapai,  Rollins  and  the  Willows 
on  the  west.  Each  of  these  posts  had  from  100  to  300 
men  on  duty.  The  Wallapai  tribe  were  annihilated  and 
the  final  fight  that  brought  them  to  their  knees  was  on 
the  Santa  Maria.  The  official  report  to  the  War  De- 
partment gave  the  casualties  as:  Killed,  16;  wounded, 
30 ;  captured,  1 16.  The  civilian  report  that  was  backed 
by  personal  observation  was:  Killed,  218,  and  sur- 
rendered 325.  This  programme  was  followed  out  in 
the  same  spirit  with  other  tribes,  and  in  a  little  over 
one  year  the  western  part  of  Arizona  was  relieved  of 
any  further  trouble.  Operations  were  again  started  in 
the  vicinity  of  Prescott  on  the  east,  and  by  1873  there 
was  the  general  surrender  at  Date  Creek  of  all  Indians 
in  Northern  Arizona.  In  the  meantime,  however,  the 
execution  had  been  frightful  by  the  military  under 
Crook.  Wherever  a  depredation  had  been  committed, 
troops  were  rushed  at  once  into  the  field,  and  scouting 
detachments  were  everywhere  in  action.  Over  6,000 
Indians,  after  the  Date  Creek  surrender  were  removed 
to  the  Verde  and  from  the  latter  point  to  San  Carlos 
in  Southeastern  Arizona,  where  they  formed  a  grand 
total  of  over  15,000,  all  of  which  is  due  to  the  admin- 
istration of  Crook  and  his  able  lieutenants. 


J.   H.  Lee 

The  Hero  of  the  American  Ranch 


THE    WHITE    CONQUEST    OF    ARIZONA        29 

Crook's  final  blow  to  the  Apache  in  Northern  and 
Central  Arizona  was  that  pleasant  event  known  as  the 
"Squaw  Peak  Surprise  Party."  It  was  learned  that  a 
band  of  over  40  Indians  had  dropped  out  of  the  march- 
ing line  to  the  San  Carlos  from  Camp  Verde  and  had 
taken  refuge  on  the  summit  of  a  mountain  a  few  miles 
distant,  refusing  to  go  to  the  new  reservation.  Giving 
instructions  to  Al  Seiber,  Dan  O'Leary  and  Pat  Kehoe 
to  bring  these  renegades  into  the  main  body,  an  effort 
was  made  to  obey  orders  (?)  Only  one  soul  was  per- 
suaded to  join  the  party  on  the  road,  and  that  was  the 
only  squaw  in  the  band.  The  "bucks"  stayed,  and 
their  bones  are  yet  on  the  pinnacle  of  that  mountain. 

I  do  not  believe  that  General  Crook  had  a  single 
enemy  in  all  of  Northern  and  Central  Arizona  during 
the  days  of  his  military  career.  On  the  other  hand  his 
memory  is  sacredly  worshiped,  and  to  this  day,  when 
occasionally  the  old  pioneers  are  grouped  in  each 
other's  company,  and  the  old,  old  story  is  being  told 
over  and  over  again,  the  monotony  of  Indian  tales  is 
sure  to  be  enlivened  by  such  quaint  expressions  as 
"Wasn't  George  Crook  and  his  bunch  a  dandy  out- 
fit!" 

One  peculiarity  of  this  great  Indian  fighter  was  his 
reckless  and  unconcerned  regard  for  his  rank,  on  or 
off  duty.  He  would  head  a  column  attired  in  a  com- 
mon blouse,  and  he  would  mingle  with  the  private  sol- 
diers as  willingly  as  he  would  with  the  officers.  He 
has  been  known  to  go  out  hunting  for  game  with  but 
a  single  soldier  to  accompany  him,  and  to  do  his  own 
washing  and  help  at  the  cooking  of  the  game  killed 
without  the  least  concern.  The  Indians  christened  him 
the  "Gray  Fox,"  and  when  he  heard  of  it  he  simply 
smiled.  He  passed  away  in  Chicago  in  the  go's. 

PART  III. 

NAMES  THAT  ARE  FAMIUAR. 

IN  Arizona  there  is  nothing  in  existence  today  of  a 
chronological  nature  that  records   anything  per- 
sonal.    Nevertheless,  there  is  a  long  line  of  men 
whose  names  should  be  given  a  fitting  and  ap- 
propriate place  on  its  Roll  of  Honor.     Some  of  them 
were  of  the  military,  some  were  of  the  civilians.    They 
all  were  "good  'uns"  in  their  day,  and  they  all  had 
their  sleeves  rolled  up  to  advance  the  interests  of  the 


30       THE    WHITE    CONQUEST    OF    ARIZONA 


Territory  in  one  way  or  the  other.  Some  used  the 
rifle  on  the  Indian,  some  built  homes  and  improved  the 
country,  some  were  officials  of  the  government — in 
brief  all  were  builders.  A  peculiarity  of  the  early  ar- 
rivals is  the  fact  that  they  were  men  of  the  world, 
and  all  were  trained  in  any  vocation  they  chose  to  fol- 
low. The  bad  man  came,  of  course,  later,  but  as  he 
neither  sows  nor  reaps,  he  got  the  crumbs  that  fell; 
but  he  was  short-lived.  A  few  of  the  many  names  re- 
called are  the  following: 


Dan   Lount 
J.  A.  Park 
John  Reese 
John  Marion 
Washington  French 
H.   A.    Bigelow 
John  Dickson 
Ed.  Peck 
Herbert   Bowers 
Jesse  Jackson 
A.  J.  Doran 
John  Simmons 
Louis  St.  James 
P.  C.  Wilder 
"Lud"  Bacon 
Levi  Bash  ford 
H.  W.  Fleury 
John   Howard 
Geo,  D.  Kendall 
Dan  Hatz 
Cal.   Jackson 
Ben.  H.  Weaver 
Gideon  Brooke 
Michael  Goldwatei 
W.   H.   Ferguson 
James  Oneal 
Theo.  Boggs 
A.  L.  Moeller 
A.  C.  Dunn 
Harvey  Twaddell 
N.  L.  Griffin 
D.  W.  Shivers 
W.  C.  Bashford 
Robert  Brown 
T.  W.  Otis 


Judge  Kirkland 
Henry  Wickenburg 
S.  C.  Rogers 
W.  J.  Simmons 
Coles  Bashford 
T.  A.  Hand 
Major  Willis 
C.  P.  Head 
Wales  Arnold 
Zade  Jackson 
C.   W.   Beach 
L.   A.   Stephens 
Jim  Bones 
Charley   Genung 
J.    G.    Campbell 
W.  N.  Kelly 
Abner  French 
Jefferson    Davis 
Pard  Pierce 
Jack  Swilling 
Alfred  Shupp 
Ed.  Bowers 
C.  C.  Bean 
Geo.  W.  Sines 
Thos.  Simmons 
Hank  Williams 
Gov.  Goodwin 
R.   C.    McCormick 
Hezekiah  Brooks 
Captain  Hardy 
W.  S.  Head 
Geo.  W.  Hance 
Jno.  G.  Bourke 
Van  C.  Smith 
W.  H.  Hardy 


THE    WHITE    CONQUEST    OF    ARIZONA       31 

The  above  named  were  arrivals  in  the  early  6o's 
and  with  others  mentioned  elsewhere  in  specific  in- 
stances, give  the  character  of  the  men  in  so  far  as 
Americanism  in  name  goes. 

There  are  two  men  who  lead  the  longevity  column 
for  continuous  residence  in  Prescott.  Judge  Griffin 
has  been  camped  in  town  for  over  44  years,  while  Sam 
Miller  has  clipped  the  same  number.  It  is  now  up  to 
the  calendar  for  the  month  to  settle  the  dispute. 

Of  all  the  pioneers  of  the  period  prior  to  the  6o's  in 
this  section  there  are  not  over  twenty  alive  today. 

A  PATRIOTIC  PILGRIM. 

The  first  American  flag  raised  in  Arizona  was  at 
Tucson,  and  the  honor  belongs  to  Judge  W.  H.  Kirk- 
land,  residing  near  Prescott.  This  historic  event  oc- 
curred in  1856,  and  notwithstanding  that  over  half  a 
century  has  rolled  around  since  that  day,  this  patriotic 
man  is  still  blessed  with  physical  vigor  and  is  as  ready 
as  ever  to  shoulder  a  musket  in  defense  of  his  country's 
emblem.  Judge  Kirkland  has  had  many  thrilling  ex- 
periences with  the  Indians,  and  it  is  said  of  him  that  he 
is  just  as  cunning  as  the  men  of  the  forest  were. 
Many  are  the  thrilling  deeds  of  this  old  pioneer,  but 
the  hoisting  of  "Old  Glory"  supersedes  all  other  events 
in  his  long  years  on  this  earth.  He  is  traveling  rapidly 
toward  the  century  goal. 

THREE  WOMEN  ON  THE  FRONTIER. 

Why  should  men  be  given  the  sole  honor  of  the 
deeds  of  daring  and  the  suffering  incidental  to  the  pio- 
neer day?  Woman's  dominion  is  said  to  be  the  home, 
and  the  cares  and  tribulations  incidental  thereto.  But 
once  in  a  while  this  principle  is  shattered  and  there  is 
invariably  something  noteworthy  to  chronicle  when 
her  temperament  asserts  itself  and  she  takes  the  reins 
in  hand  to  do  things  other  than  domestic  duties.  In 
this  connection  it  is  deemed  proper  to  single  out  three 
little  women  and  place  them  where  they  belong  in  the 
dark  day  of  the  pioneers  in  Northern  Arizona. 

If  there  is  anything  nobler  in  life  than  charity,  the 
scriptures  are  wilfully  misleading.  If  there  ever  lived 
in  this  sphere  a  firmer  or  more  ardent  desciple  of  this 
faith  and  one  who  followed  zealously  its  teachings  than 
Mrs.  Ganelli  an  American  woman,  it  has  never  been 


32       THE    WHITE    CONQUEST    OF    ARIZONA 

brought  out.  None  knew  her  by  her  true  name  and 
none  cared  to.  She  was  christened  "Virgin  Mary" 
and  when  she  passed  away  it  was :  "Virgin  Mary  has 
gone."  Her  life  was  a  beautiful  exemplification  of  the 
teachings  of  the  Bible,  and  when  she  was  stricken  many 
weeping  eyes  were  seen.  Her  life  was  devoted  to  the 
wounded  and  distressed,  and  her  purse  and  every  far- 
thing she  could  procure  went  the  same  way.  She 
went  to  the  cabin  or  in  the  field,  and  at  her  home  in  the 
early  6o's  in  Prescott,  there  was  always  the  latch 
string  for  the  needy.  The  door  was  always  open. 
Many  a  man  in  need  and  many  that  were  pierced  with 
the  arrow  or  bullet  of  the  Apache  found  in  her  a  de- 
voted helper.  It  seems  cruel,  but  it  is  the  way  of 
the  world,  to  say  that  she  ended  a  beautiful  life  in  dis- 
tress. She  lies  buried  on  the  hillside  of  the  Lynx 
Creek  range  of  mountains  ten  miles  from  Prescott,  and 
her  memory  is  almost  lost. 

In  valor  or  pure  "nerve,"  as  it  is  called  in  this  sec- 
tion of  the  world,  early  history  would  be  at  fault  if  it 
failed  to  encircle  the  name  of  Mrs.  Fannie  Stevens,  the 
devoted  wife  of  Lewis  A.  Stevens.  The  ranch  known 
by  this  name  is  situated  but  four  miles  north  of  the  city 
of  Prescott,  and  is  nestled  just  on  the  outskirts  of  a 
veritable  inferno  of  buolders  and  crevices,  just  such  as 
the  Indian  loved  in  his  day  of  marauding  and  ambush 
work.  Mr.  Stevens  and  some  of  his  employees  were 
engaged  in  clearing  the  rubbish  from  the  ground  ad- 
jacent to  the  home,  and  while  so  engaged  the  devoted 
little  woman  stood  guard  over  them  with  a  Henry 
rifle.  A  bunch  of  the  redskins  were  about  to  surprise 
and  sweep  down  on  them  when  the  keen  eyesight  of 
Mrs.  Stevens  detected  the  bunch  of  grass  was  moving, 
while  not  a  breath  of  air  was  stirring.  She  raised  the 
rifle  and  it  "talked"  in  pretty  language.  The  Indian 
was  hit  and  mortally  wounded.  Others  came  to  his 
rescue  and  he  was  pulled  out  of  range.  The  male  mem- 
bers at  once  got  into  action,  and  several  shots  were  ex- 
changed. Two  bodies  were  found.  Mrs.  Stevens  is 
still  alive,  but  in  feeble  health.  She  lives  in  Oakland, 
Cal.  Previous  to  her  marriage  to  Mr.  Stevens  she 
taught  in  the  public  schools  of  Prescott,  and  was  known 
as  the  "Nervy  Schoolmarm"  ever  afterward. 

Another  instance  of  feminine  courage  is  one  which 
is  generally  known  and  in  which  Mrs.  S.  C.  Miller, 


Wales  Arnold 

MOW  71  years  of  age.     A  patriotic  Arizona  pioneer  and   surviving 
member  of  the  famous  Fourth  Regiment,  Infantry,  California  Vol- 
unteers of  1863. 


THE    WHITE    CONQUEST    OF    ARIZONA        33 

alive  and  residing  near  the  city  of  Prescott,  figures 
prominently.  The  occasion  when  she  got  hold  of  a 
Winchester  and  held  up  the  Indian  was  when  the  lat- 
ter stampeded  a  large  herd  of  animals  and  was  making 
way  with  them.  She  held  several  Indians  at  bay  with 
the  gun,  and  at  the  same  time  opened  the  corral  gate 
and  permitted  the  horses  and  cattle  to  be  secure.  Asked 
if  she  shot  any  of  them,  she  modestly  said  "No,  but  they 
knew  from  the  way  the  bullets  sprinkled  around  their 
feet  that  I  could  hit  pretty  close.  We  women  just 
had  to  learn  to  handle  a  gun  in  those  days,"  she  says, 
"and  I  want  to  tell  you  another  thing — many  nights 
when  Sam  was  away  and  I  was  alone,  there  would  be 
no  light  burning  in  the  house  that  night,  and  I  always 
retired  with  a  six-shooter  under  my  pillow."  Mrs. 
Miller  is  a  pleasant  little  woman  in  conversation,  and 
is  charming  personally.  As  Mary  Saunders  she  enjoys 
the  distinction  of  being  the  first  arrival  of  her  sex  in 
northern  Arizona. 

DESPERATE  DAYS  AND  DESPERATE  MEN. 

The  mines  at   the   north  wouldn't  pay, 

Nevada  was  in  a  decline, 
So  the  miners  and  bummers  straightway 
Packed  up  for  this  new  Forty-Nine. 

By  no  means  was  the  Indian  the  only  evil  to  be  met 
with  in  the  period  covering  the  day  bordering  on  the 
middle  of  the  6o's.  So  far  as  life  in  the  settlements 
was  concerned  the  bad  man  was  by  far  the  greater  evil 
of  the  two.  The  civil  war  was  raging  and  sectional 
lines  were  drawn  only  too  close  to  each  other.  A 
spark  and  the  explosion  followed.  The  efforts  of  the 
substantial  and  cool-headed  people  was  accordingly 
directed  toward  confining  the  trouble  to  the  naturally 
inclined  "bad  men"  and  in  not  permitting  them  to  get 
away  from  their  own  boundaries. 

In  this  respect  success  followed  to  a  certain  degree, 
but  in  many  cases  some  of  the  most  willful  and  cold- 
blooded of  murders  were  committed  and  the  guilty 
never  arrested,  even.  The  lie  was  equivalent  to  the 
crack  of  a  six-shooter,  and  there  was  no  ceremony  to 
precede  the  event.  The  discovery  of  gold  in  fabulous 
sums  on  Rich  Hill  brought  in  every  conceivable  make- 
up of  human  nature  from  highwayman  to  prospector, 
and  the  business  man  and  laborer  also  entered.  The 


34        THE    WHITE    CONQUEST    OF    ARIZONA 

more  dust  taken  from  that  mountain  only  the  more 
exasperating  did  the  whole  situation  become,  and  rob- 
bery after  robbery  of  miners  and  their  wealth  were  fre- 
quent. 

In  the  zenith  of  this,  Lynx  Creek  was  also  producing 
handsome  sums  in  placer  dust;  likewise  Big  Bug  and 
the  Hassayampa. 

"The  Montana  gang,"  a  combination  of  everything 
vicious  and  lawless,  equipped  with  crooked  gambling 
devices,  lewd  women  and  bad  digestion  appeared  on  the 
ground,  and  were  followed  immediately  by  the  notori- 
ous Jeff  Standefer  and  his  outfit,  with  a  larger  stock  of 
the  same  goods  and  wares.  These  two  combinations 
made  a  perfect  pandemonium  of  anything  and  every- 
thing and  they  practically  ran  the  town.  The  mur- 
ders traceable  directly  to  them  and  their  ilk  were  a  dis- 
grace to  civilization,  but  with  the  Indian  on  one  side 
and  they  on  the  other,  the  respectable  element  side- 
stepped any -interference  and  left  them  to  themselves. 

Many  murders  attributed  to  the  Indians  were  no 
doubt  due  to  this  lawless  element,  and  the  play  on  this 
line  of  action  was  no  doubt  a  welcome  opportunity.  In 
a  few  vears  the  situation  was  changed  and  those  that 
remained  changed  their  tactics,  and  ultimately  got  out 
of  the  groove  of  "undesirable"  citizens.  A  new  era 
drove  these  men  away  as  it  usually  does  in  all  com- 
munities where  mining  excitements  lose  their  boom  and 
the  industry  settles  down  to  a  basis  of  practical  con- 
sideration on  cool-headed  principles. 

It  is  said  of  Jeff  Standefer  that  he  came  to  Arizona 
on  the  reputation  that  reached  him  in  Nevada  that 
King  S.  Woolsey  was  "the"  bad  man  of  Arizona.  He 
was  also  in  the  same  category  in  the  Sagebrush  State, 
and  he  desired  to  "meet"  the  Arizonan  and  settle  the 
personal  claims  of  each  as  to  the  supremacy  of  the  in- 
dividual. He  did  so,  but  in  Woolsey  he  found  a  man 
of  iron,  and  a  brave  one,  but  not  a  bad  one,  so  Stande- 
fer weakened  at  a  critical  time,  and  gave  in.  Later 
he  went  away,  and  in  Southern  Arizona  got  in  front 
of  a  bullet  and  his  life  went  out  in  a  barroom  duel. 

LEGEND  OF  THE  HASSAYAMPA. 

You've  heard  about  the  wondrous  stream 

They  call  the  Hassayamp; 
They  say  it  will  turn  a  truthful  guy 


THE    WHITE    CONQUEST    OF    ARIZONA       35 

Into  a  lying  scamp. 

And  if  you  quaff  its  waters  once 
It's  sure  to  prove  your  bane, 

You'll  ne'er  forsake  the  blarsted  stream 
Or  tell  the  truth  again. 

Wherever  Arizona  is  known  the  Hassayampa  is  also 
known.  Its  fame  is  world-wide.  The  tenderfoot  has 
bandied  it  all  to  pieces  and  the  accepted  deduction  is 
generally  in  harmony  with  the  doggerel  given  above. 
The  word  is  derived  from  the  Indian  tongue  and  au- 
thorities give  it  many  versions  in  translation  to  Eng- 
lish. Water  is,  however,  the  foundation  of  the  word, 
some  saying  that  running  water  is  one,  while  others 
maintain  in  the  Indian  vernacular  it  signifies  queen  of 
waters,  and  so  on.  As  to  the  selection  of  the  name  it  is 
traced  to  Pauline  Weaver  and  his  version  was  Beautiful 
Water,  and  it  was  so  named.  Tradition  among  the 
Indians  is  firmly  and  immovably  moulded  in  hatred  to 
it  since  the  day  a  beautiful  Indian  girl  was  accidental- 
ly killed  at  a  point  near  its  source,  and  from  their 
theory  its  waters  are  polluted,  since  that  time,  hence 
the  belief  that  the  Indian  hoodoo  is  perfectly  proper 
and  always  will  be.  A  bad  quality  of  whisky  also  goes 
into  the  root  as  Hassayamp  water,  and  so  on,  and  on, 
until  the  vocabulary  is  exhausted. 

GIGANTIC    WILDCATTING. 

One  of  the  shrewdest  pieces  of  mining  manipulation 
and  one  of  the  most  rascally  also,  that  ever  took  place 
in  the  West  was  the  notorious  "Diamond  Field  Dis- 
covery" that  was  incubated  and  put  on  the  market  in 
Prescott  in  1869.  Upon  the  announcement  of  the  so- 
called  discovery  hundreds  of  explorers  and  the  usual 
followers  of  mining  booms  came  in  and  went  out  to 
the  so-called  fields  where  the  precious  stones  were  sup- 
posed to  exist.  The  ground  laid  where  the  four  cor- 
ners of  Utah,  Arizona,  New  Mexico  and  Colorado 
merge,  and  Prescott  in  that  day  was  the  most  desirable 
point  from  which  to  enter.  Hundreds  came  and  out- 
fitted there  and  went  on.  The  inside  facts  of  the  "deal" 
are  well  known  in  every  detail  and  the  scheme  received 
a  wide  ventilation  when  the  leak  broke.  The  plans 
were  over  three  years  in  maturing  and  the  principals 
in  the  wildcat  scheme  were  George  Harpending,  J.  B. 
Slack  and  a  man  named  Arnold.  The  victims  were  W. 


36        THE    WHITE    CONQUEST    OF    ARIZONA 

M.  Lent,  the  mining  magnate  of  the  stock  exchange  of 
San  Francisco  along  with  the  Senior  Tiffany  of  New 
York  and  other  wealthy  friends  of  the  same  city.  Be- 
hind this  transaction  was  the  hatred  of  Harpending  to- 
ward Lent,  the  latter  having  crucified  the  former  in  a 
stock  deal  in  an  earlier  day.  A  break-even  turn  was 
Harpending's  dream  and  he  got  into  the  harness  to  ac- 
complish his  aim.  Slack  had  had  considerable  prac- 
tical experience  in  the  diamond  fields  of  Africa,  while 
Arnold  was  likewise  conversant  with  the  theoretical 
end  of  the  calling.  Both  were  sent  to  Europe.  They 
secured  several  thousand  dollars  worth  of  the  stones  in 
the  rough  and  in  the  matrix,  as  well.  Returning  the 
right  ground  was  selected  in  soil  to  plant  the  imported 
goods,  when  the  news  electrified  the  nation  and  stam- 
peded the  whole  country  to  the  scene.  It  was  here 
that  Harpending  crept  into  the  play  and  gave  the  op- 
tion to  Lent.  Geologists  of  ability  were  sent  to  the 
field  and  dug  up  the  gems  and  pronounced  the  find  a 
genuine  one.  Other  experts  likewise  reported  favor- 
ably, and  Lent  paid  over  the  sum  of  $200,000  in  cash 
on  the  first  payment.  Then  the  new  syndicate  began 
an  active  career  in  development.  Clarence  King,  the 
geologist  of  the  U.  S.  government,  was  employed  and 
visited  the  diggings.  He  pronounced  the  same  a  rank 
fake.  Thus  the  bubble  broke  and  redress  was  asked  of 
the  sellers.  Harpending  had  placed  his  money  in  his 
pocket  and  so  had  Slack.  Arnold  went  to  Louisville 
and  bought  up  a  desirable  piece  of  business  property, 
which  in  a  suit  he  was  compelled  to  give  up.  Harpen- 
ding and  Slack  had  no  resources  that  the  law  could 
reach,  and  thus  closed  the  history  of  the  famous  dia- 
mond fields  in  Arizona. 


ARIZONAS  FIRST  CHRISTMAS 

THERE  is  one  Arizonan  alive  today  who  holds  a 
unique  station  among  men,  and  who  enjoys  a 
a  distinction  that  is  beautiful  and  praiseworthy. 
His  name  is  J.  N.  Rodenburg,  and  to  him  belongs 
the  honor  of  being  the  first  man  who  conceived  the 
idea  of  zealously  and  fervently  observing  the  birth  of 
the  Savior  in  a  wild  land  and  providing  the  first  Christ- 
mas tree  to  be  erected  in  Arizona.     This  tribute  to 
Christianity  was  initiated  by  him  under  conditions  that 
would  seem  in  this  flay  of  peace  and  plenty  as  difficult 


J.  N.  Rodenburg 

JVA  R.  RODENBURG  is  the  man  who  gave  Arizona  their  first  Christ- 
*»*  mas  tree  and  gathered  together  the  people  in  an  "old  home" 
celebration . 


THE    WHITE    CONQUEST    OF    ARIZONA       37 

of  execution,  but  those  who  are  yet  alive  bear  evidence 
to  it  in  its  every  detail. 

Every  desert  has  its  oasis.  When  the  day  arrived 
that  Arizona  was  to  have  its  first  Christmas  tree  and 
the  birth  of  the  Savior  was  to  be  fittingly  celebrated, 
there  was  evidence  of  much  humorous  curiosity  among 
the  frontiersmen  as  to  how  the  plan  was  to  be  carried 
out.  Where  were  the  goods  and  wares,  toys,  candies 
and  the  like  to  be  had  ?  And  where  were  the  children 
to  come  from  to  brighten  the  occasion,  as  is  so  custom- 
ary in  events  of  this  character?  A  census  was  taken 
and  in  the  skirmish  seven  eligible  "kids"  were  rounded 
up,  together  with  a  half  dozen  others  who  were  still 
young,  but  grown  tall.  Mr.  Rodenburg  then  got  into 
the  theological  harness  and,  with  an  escort  of  six  men, 
went  into  the  woods  to  get  the  tree  end  of  the  occasion. 
A  beautiful  fir  was  secured,  and  the  Indians  permitted 
the  party  to  return  in  safety.  This  was  erected  in 
Rodenburg's  house,  and  thus  was  the  ''big  doings" 
started.  A  call  was  issued  to  the  public  for  the  pres- 
ents to  ornament  the  tree.  In  that  day,  over  forty 
years  ago,  the  stores  carried  absolutely  nothing  in  the 
line  of  toys  or  trinkets,  candies  or  bonbons,  and  it  was 
here  that  the  first  serious  problem  confronted  the  com- 
mittee. A  big  stock  of  brown  sugar  was  purchased, 
and,  with  the  assistance  of  a  New  Orleans  negro,  three 
kinds  of  black-jack  were  skillfully  moulded.  This  set- 
tled the  sweet  end  of  the  programme,  the  candy  being 
encased  in  manilla  paper  bags  glued  together  with 
flour  paste.  The  tree  must  have  illumination,  so  the 
market  was  searched  for  all  the  tallow  candles  neces- 
sary. These  were  cut  in  two,  and  after  being  tied  to 
the  limbs  with  ordinary  twine,  another  obstacle  was 
conquered.  There  was  a  scarcity  of  ribbons  to  give 
the  scene  the  beauty  and  brilliancy  necessary,  but  the 
bottom  of  every  trunk  was  scoured  among  the  ladies 
who  had  recently  arrived  from  the  East,  and  a  few 
bolts  were  donated.  Various  crude  toys  and  goods 
were  then  manufactured  by  men  conversant  with  the 
handling  of  implements,  or  skilled  in  such  handiwork. 
Quite  a  respectable  collection  was  secured  in  this  man- 
ner, everybody  contributing  something  that  he  either 
could  manufacture  or  purchase.  But  the  most  import- 
ant consideration  yet  faced  the  committee,  and  that 
was  to  secure  music  for  the  event.  An  inventory  of 


38        THE    WHITE    CONQUEST    OF    ARIZONA 

the  burg  disclosed  that  there  was  but  one  musical  in- 
strument to  be  found — a  violin,  out  of  tune  and  minus 
a  string.  The  owner  was  conversant  with  but  one 
air — The  Arkansaw  Traveler.  This  was  humiliating 
to  the  directors,  but  there  must  be  melody,  and  after 
the  operator  was  admonished  to  play  something  half 
way  through  and  then  to  repeat  it  with  a  change  in 
cadence,  the  day  arrived  for  the  event — Arizona's  first 
Christmas  tree. 

The  little  home  was  jammed,  and  the  men  who 
usually  wore  hard-looking  countenances  and  in  their 
reckless  careers  were  accustomed  to  the  rougher  side 
of  human  life,  recalled  the  long  ago  in  old  New  Eng- 
land when  they,  too,  were  young  and  when  they  also 
went  up  to  get  what  was  coming  as  their  names  were 
called  out  by  the  superintendent  of  the  Sunday  school. 
So  they  weakened,  as  it  were,  and  each  gave  himself 
up  to  the  spirit  of  the  day  with  a  joyousness  that  was 
in  harmony  with  their  lives  when  they  were  home  with 
the  old  folks  beyond  the  Rockies.  Mr.  Rodenburg 
says  that  electric  bulbs  may  glow  in  many  colors  from 
the  Christmas  trees  of  the  present  day,  trained  voices 
may  chant  the  melodies,  diamonds  and  gilt-edged  pres- 
ents may  ornament  the  garments,  children  may  devour 
the  many  colored  sweets  that  are  run  out  by  the  ton, 
but  that  old  black-jack  was  just  as  good,  that  old  tree 
was  just  as  handsome,  and  above  it  all  there  was  the 
genuine  and  the  devoted  spirit  around  that  old  Christ- 
mas tree  of  long  ago  that  cannot  be  duplicated,  be- 
cause, he  says,  we  did  not  mix  the  occasion  then,  as 
they  do  now,  with  discrimination  and  commercialism — 
we  gave  them  all  a  run  for  their  money. 

LEHIGH'S   FOLLY. 

No  branch  of  the  government  working  to  subdue 
the  Indians  figured  more  earnestly  or  terminated  more 
disastrously  than  that  of  the  Indian  Bureau  when  the 
Apache  was  in  the  zenith  of  his  freedom  and  lawless- 
ness. With  instructions  to  the  military  to  crush,  a 
companion  order  would  emanate  from  the  administra- 
tion for  the  Indian  Bureau  to  sugar  coat  with  moral 
suasion  the  same  red  men.  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that 
the  central  government  had  two  elements  working 
directly  against  each  other.  The  men  with  iron  hands 
demanded  the  bullet,  and  the  sentimental  element  placed 


THE    WHITE    CONQUEST    OF    ARIZONA        39 

a  Bible  in  the  hands  of  their  representative.  At  the 
beginning  of  Indian  warfare  in  Arizona,  and  while 
President  Grant  was  in  office,  Young  Dent,  a  brother 
of  Mrs.  U.  S.  Grant,  was  sent  to  Prescott,  with  the 
support  of  the  Indian  Bureau  behind  him.  He  tried 
all  known  methods  to  pacify  the  Apache,  and  after  one 
year's  humiliation  returned  to  Washington,  chagrined 
and  openly  stating  that  the  Indian's  nature  would  not 
respond  to  anything  except  force,  and  the  most  strenu- 
ous article  at  that.  But  the  set  principles  inaugurated 
were  maintained,  and  after  Dent  had  cast  his  shoes 
aside,  Minister  Lehigh,  of  Petaluma,  California,  stepped 
into  them.  He  came  and  took  quarters  with  General 
Crook  at  Fort  Whipple.  His  arrival  was  a  most  aus- 
picious event  in  his  method  of  pacification.  The  In- 
dian was  rampant  in  his  bloodthirsty  work,  and  Lehigh 
was  enthusiastic  to  prepare  his  salve  and  rub  it  in  on 
the  Indian.  He  got  into  harness,  and,  to  his  credit  it 
must  be  said,  he  worked  courageously,  going  among  the 
different  tribes  and  innoculating  them  with  the  doc- 
trine of  Christianity.  But  when  a  lone  horseman  hap- 
pened to  be  going  by  and  the  animal  was  branded  with 
a  U.  S.  mark,  Christian  doctrine  easily  rubbed  off,  and 
animal  and  rider  were  taken  in.  The  same  rule  would 
apply  to  a  long  string  of  freight  teams ;  when  the  In- 
dian believed  he  was  strong  enough  to  accomplish  his 
ends,  his  former  instruction  from  the  Book  of  God,  for 
the  time  being,  came  in  for  but  little  consideration. 

But  Lehigh  never  wavered.  He  worked  persist- 
ently and  enthusiastically,  doing  some  good,  and  like- 
wise considerable  harm.  With  his  chief  clerk,  also  of 
the  same  religious  persuasion,  he  went  to  Southern 
Arizona,  as  well  as  to  visit  all  points  in  the  north. 
He  educated  the  Indian  with  kindness  that  was  effica- 
cious, and  especially  so  when  it  was  accompanied  with 
presents,  for  which  the  Indian  had  a  decidedly  re- 
ceptive nature.  With  this  method  he  became  known 
to  all  the  tribes,  and  was  in  constant  communication 
with  them.  Pat  Kehoe,  the  noted  Indian  scout,  in 
speaking  of  this  trait  of  the  Indian,  informed  the  writer 
many  years  ago  that  this  was  a  trick  of  the  Apache, 
and  he  could  do  the  same  thing  that  Lehigh  did,  but, 
said  he,  "When  you  are  alone  with  an  Apache,  after 
you  think  you  have  his  confidence  and  his  good  will, 
and  you  want  to  spit,  don't,  for  heaven's  sake,  turn 


40        THE    WHITE    CONQUEST    OF    ARIZONA 

your  head  aside  the  thirty-second  part  of  an  inch.  If 
you  do  he  will  get  the  drop  on  you  and  the  jig  is  up." 
Lehigh  made  the  same  mistake,  and  he  paid  for  it 
with  his  life.  He  left  on  a  journey  from  Fort  Whipple 
with  his  trusted  clerk  one  morning  in  a  blackboard. 
General  Cook  endeavored  to  dissuade  him  from  making 
the  perilous  trip,  at  the  same  time  insisting  that  he  be 
provided  with  a  strong  escort  of  cavalry,  as  the  route 
he  was  taking  was  alive  with  Indians.  Raising  the 
cushion  from  the  seat  on  the  buckboard,  Lehigh  drew 
forth  a  Bible,  and,  placing  it  above  his  head,  informed 
the  general  that  that  little  Book  had  carried  him  through 
many  a  trying  and  dangerous  locality,  and  that  it  would 
stop  any  bullet  that  came  along.  Besides,  he  said,  the 
Indians  knew  him,  and  he  feared  them  not. 

Three  days  passed  and  Indians  were  killing  travelers 
and  people  on  the  farms.  The  military,  as  usual,  got 
into  the  zone  of  hostilities.  In  passing  through  Bell's 
canyon  the  bodies  of  Lehigh  and  his  clerk  were  found, 
the  men  having  been  murdered  by  the  Apaches.  In 
addition  to  taking  his  life,  the  Indians  frightfully  muti- 
lated Lehigh's  body.  Every  portion  of  his  anatomy 
was  hacked  in  the  most  barbarous  manner  imaginable. 
His  body  was  burned  to  an  extent  as  to  be  almost  un- 
recognizable. His  clerk's  body  was  not  molested.  The 
traveler  of  today  in  going  through  this  canyon  will  be 
attracted  by  a  big  black  boulder  that  lies  alongside  the 
road.  After  bung  exposed  to  the  elements  for  over 
thirty-five  years,  it  still  carries  the  blackened  stain  it 
received,  and  serves  to  recall  the  sad  ending  of  a  man 
of  the  highest  impulses  to  do  right  to  the  uncivilized 
Indian,  and  who  fell  in  the  performance  of  a  sacred 
duty.  With  the  death  of  this  man,  the  Indian  Bureau 
received  its  final  blow.  Afterward  the  military  fol- 
lowed out  its  plan  of  subjugating  the  Indians,  and  was 
successful  in  its  work. 

MASSACRE  OF  THE  OATMAN  FAMILY. 

In  the  drama  of  blood  that  cursed  Arizona  when  the 
Apache  ruled  supreme,  and  when  the  Territory  was 
about  to  enter  the  Union,  a  subdivision  as  now  estab- 
lished, one  of  the  most  ghastly  of  the  many  massacres 
for  which  the  unmerciful  Indian  was  responsible  was 
that  of  the  slaughter  of  James  Oatman  and  family 
while  en  route  to  California  from  Texas  via  the  Butter- 


THE    WHITE    CONQUEST    OF    ARIZONA        41 

field  stage  route  that  then  traversed  Southern  Arizona. 
This  wanton  murder  of  a  fine  family  occurred  in  1861 
at  a  point  midway  between  what  is  now  Phoenix,  the 
capital  of  Arizona,  and  Yuma,  on  the  Colorado  river. 
The  spot  where  the  lives  of  fourteen  human  beings 
were  wiped  out  is  to  this  day  known  as  Oatman  Flat. 
This  route  of  travel  was  the  only  highway  taken  by 
pilgrims  to  the  Pacific  Coast  in  that  era,  for  in  the 
northern  portion  of  Arizona  there  was  no  regular  or 
established  line,  neither  were  there  any  wagon  roads 
for  vehicles,  horsemen  being  the  only  travelers,  as  a 
rule.  As  a  result  of  this  favorable  condition,  the  old 
Butterfield  stage  route  was  the  means  usually  taken 
to  reach  the  Coast,  and  all  parties  who  carried  house- 
hold goods  naturally  selected  it,  and  particularly  so 
in  the  winter  months.  Officially  speaking,  Arizona  at 
this  time  was  not  created,  and  there  were  practically 
no  white  men  living  north  of  the  Gila  and  Salt  rivers. 
Consequently  Tucson  was  the  military  seat  of  Arizona, 
or  that  zone  bordering  close  to  it,  and  hither  all  immi- 
gration was  directed,  coming  or  going. 

It  was  but  a  short  time  after  this  route  had  been 
opened  that  thousands  of  people  were  swarming  across 
it,  and  this  fact  became  known  to  the  Apaches  in  the 
eastern  as  well  as  the  western  part  of  Arizona.  Many 
travelers  were  picked  off,  and  it  soon  became  necessary 
to  escort  mail  stages  by  soldiers  drawn  from  Crittenden 
on  the  east  and  Yuma  on  the  west.  Several  small  par- 
ties, in  numbers  of  from  three  to  six,  were  massacred, 
and  this  served  as  a  warning  for  others  to  combine 
at  Tucson  and  travel  as  a  unit.  By  this  method  the 
Indians  were  checked  and  travel  progressed  less  inter- 
ruptedly. James  Oatman,  however,  with  his  family, 
ventured  unattended,  thinking  that  in  keeping  in  close 
touch  with  caravans  within  a  few  hours  ahead  of  him 
he  would  be  safe.  He  made  the  venture  and  lost.  He 
had  camped  for  the  night  in  a  flat  but  a  few  hundred 
yards  off  the  main  road,  the  ground  being  coated  with 
a  soft  growth  of  green  grass.  As  the  preparations 
were  made  to  go  into  camp  for  the  night,  two  men 
who  accompanied  him  were  sent  out  in  different  direc- 
tions to  gather  wood.  This  left  in  the  party  himself, 
his  wife,  his  brother-in-law,  his  sister-in-law,  two 
daughters — Olive,  aged  seven,  and  Mollie,  aged  five 


42        THE    WHITE    CONQUEST    OF    ARIZONA 

and  one-half  years — his  son,  aged  nine  years,  and  five 
others,  males. 

There  were  no  eye  witnesses  of  the  tragedy  that 
hurled  these  people  into  eternity.  The  struggle  must 
have  been  a  terrific  one  to  the  end,  however.  One  of 
the  men  who  went  in  search  of  wood  returned  to  the 
camp  and  staid  until  he  hailed  the  stage  that  passed 
during  the  night.  The  other  man,  who  was  likewise 
engaged,  traveled  to  the  nearest  station  and  gave  the 
alarm.  When  the  military  arrived,  three  were  missing. 
They  were  the  two  young  daughters  and  the  son. 
Every  one  of  the  dead  was  frightfully  mutilated.  The 
wagons  were  burned  and  the  animals  taken.  The 
scene,  in  short,  was  one  of  horror,  and  the  only  con- 
soling evidence  of  the  struggle  was  the  bodies  of 
eighteen  dead  Indians.  One  of  the  men  sent  in  search 
of  fuel  stated  afterward  that  he  saw  the  Indians  ad- 
vancing on  the  camp  and  that  they  numbered  at  least 
three  hundred,  and  were  moving  on  at  a  rapid  rate, 
some  on  foot  and  others  mounted.  Three  days  passed 
belore  the  military  and  the  civilians  reached  the  scene. 
The  bodies  were  buried  near  where  they  fell.  The 
fate  of  this  family  was  flashed  to  both  the  East  and 
the  West,  and  when  the  sad  story  became  known  it 
aroused  new  hatred  for  the  Apaches.  To  secure  the 
captive  children  was  the  momentous  problem  that  con- 
fronted the  men  who  had  come  on  their  mission  of 
rescue.  Couriers  were  dispatched  to  Yuma  and  to 
Colonel  Crittenden,  in  command  of  the  military  near 
Tucson.  Both  these  wings  got  into  action,  and  with 
volunteers  from  civil  life  several  detachments  were  in 
the  field  in  a  few  days. 

In  the  meantime  the  eastern  States  were  aware  of 
the  sad  ending  of  this  party  and  the  plight  of  the  cap- 
tive girls  and  the  boy.  Mr.  Oatman  had  at  one  time 
been  a  minister  of  the  Gospel,  while  his  wife  had  also 
figured  prominently  in  missionary  work,  and  especially 
so  among  the  Indians.  Soon  the  church  took  up  the 
work  of  rescue,  and  in  all  the  entire  nation,  de- 
nominational as  well  as  official,  was  at  fever  heat  to 
effect  the  saving  of  the  captives  and  the  punishment 
of  the  murderers.  In  one  of  the  rescue  columns  was 
one  of  the  men  of  the  Oatman  party,  and  in  three  days 
after  it  got  into  the  field  the  boy  was  found  about  twelve 
miles  distant  wandering  on  the  desert,  in  a  demented 


THE    WHITE    CONQUEST    OF    ARIZONA        43 

condition.  He  was  sent  to  Tucson,  carefully  nursed, 
but  passed  away  in  a  few  weeks,  without  regaining  his 
mental  faculties.  This  incident  incensed  the  white 
people  there  only  the  more,  and  in  their  frenzy  to  wipe 
out  the  Apaches  eight  men  enlisted  in  the  service  of  the 
nation  with  the  explicit  understanding  that  they  be 
sent  to  hunt  the  Indians  and  effect  the  rescue  of  the 
two  girls.  These  men  were  rilled  with  the  spirit  of 
revenge,  but  nevertheless  they  were  patriots  of  the 
purest  type.  In  that  day  there  were  less  than  a  score 
of  unemployed  Americans  in  Tucson,  and  this  will  give 
some  idea  of  the  difference  between  those  times  and 
these  of  the  frenzied  era  we  are  living  in  at  present, 
when  philanthropy  is  cast  aside  to  make  way  for  "every- 
thing in  sight."  After  nearly  three  weeks  had  passed, 
one  of  the  military  columns  returned  to  Yuma  and  had 
in  their  escort  the  youngest  girl,  Mollie.  She  had  not 
been  rescued,  but  was  found  about  three  miles  distant 
from  the  rancheria  of  the  Indians,  wandering  alung  the 
banks  of  the  Colorado  River  with  a  bunch  of  tule  grass 
in  her  hand,  like  poor,  crazed  Ophelia  of  old.  At  the 
approach  of  the  rescue  party  she  became  alarmed  and 
fled.  With  much  difficulty  she  was  captured  and  sent 
to  the  military  post.  She  had  been  sent  adrift  by  the 
Indians  from  their  camp  and  left  to  wander,  and  later 
to  die.  She  had  lost  her  mind,  and  in  her  ramblings 
no  coherent  statement  could  be  secured  from  her.  Her 
relatives  were  living  in  Waco,  Texas,  and  it  was  deemed 
advisable  to  send  her  to  them  via  Tucson.  At  the  lat- 
ter place  she  was  placed  under  medical  care,  but  the 
shock  of  her  capture  had  shattered  her  young  and  deli- 
cate intellect,  and  after  a  few  months  at  her  old  home 
in  the  Lone  Star  State  she  also  passed  away. 

When  the  news  reached  Southern  Arizona  that  an- 
other Oatman  victim  had  fallen,  the  military  were 
roundly  and  unmercifully  censured  for  not  destroying 
the  Indians  when  their  camp  was  in  sight,  and  when 
such  a  favorable  opportunity  was  offered  for  the  con- 
summation of  this  work  at  the  time  when  Mollie  Oat- 
man was  rescued.  But  the  brains  of  the  military  were 
working  in  another  avenue — that  of  the  rescue  of  the 
eldest  daughter,  Olive.  The  spirit  of  the  soldier  was 
to  exterminate  the  Indians,  but  the  men  in  command 
were  looking  ahead  to  save  the  last  victim,  if  possible, 
and  later  to  deal  the  final  blow.  The  missionary  ele- 


44        THE    WHITE    CONQUEST    OF    ARIZONA 

ment  by  this  time  had  also  taken  a  prominent  hand  in 
the  work,  and  they  had  their  representative  en  route. 
That  was  the  policy  of  the  church,  a  policy,  in  short, 
to  vacillate — sugar  coat  the  Indian — and  for  the  handi- 
capping of  justice  that  the  frontier  was  blessed  with 
in  that  day — the  bullet — the  church  would  supercede 
it  with  a  parson  on  his  knees  and  his  head  bent  heaven- 
ward. By  this  time  the  entire  missionary  machinery 
of  the  East  was  working,  and  at  the  same  time  the 
military  genius,,  and  particularly  that  element  versed 
in  frontier  warfare  and  knowledge  of  the  Indian  na- 
ture, was  fighting  them  at  every  mark  in  the  road. 
This  policy  checked  every  move  made,  and  soon  a  year 
passed,  with  the  girl  victim  still  in  captivity.  The  civil- 
ians became  desperate,  and  at  one  time  it  was  the  in- 
tention to  call  for  general  volunteers  and  petition  Presi- 
dent Lincoln  for  assistance.  Colonel  Crittenden  be- 
came exasperated  and  threatened  to  resign  from  the 
army,  but  upon  the  promise  that  his  Indian  policy 
would  not  be  discountenanced  in  the  future,  he  re- 
mained and  again  worked  independently.  With  the 
assistance  of  two  civilians,  veterans  of  the  Mexican 
War,  a  plan  was  outlined  to  effect  the  rescue  of  the 
girl.  A  former  soldier  of  the  Mexican  army  had  de- 
generated into  a  "squaw  man"  of  the  Chimevuavis 
tribe  on  the  Colorado  River,  and  through  him  it  was 
determined  to  trace  Olive  Oatman,  whether  dead  or 
alive,  the  medium  to  be  the  two  veterans  of  the  Mexi- 
can War.  The  military  was  to  co-operate,  and  with 
this  thread  to  solve  the  problem,  the  two  ex-soldiers 
"donned"  the  apparel,  so  to  speak,  of  the  "squaw  man." 
The  play  was  without  a  hitch,  and  in  a  few  months, 
or  nearly  eighteen  months  after  the  Oatman  massacre, 
the  curtain  was  rung  down  on  the  last  act  of  the  fright- 
ful drama.  The  Indians  were  betrayed  by  the  three 
men  who  had  presumably  been  their  friends,  Olive  was 
rescued,  and  three  of  the  chiefs  were  slaughtered  in 
cold  blood,  along  with  thirty-two  of  the  tribe. 

The  poor  girl  had  been  so  long  in  captivity  and  had 
become  so  accustomed  to  Indian  manners  and  mode  of 
living,  that  the  problem  of  winning  her  back  to  civili- 
zation was  a  delicate  task,  and  discretion  had  to  be 
exercised  to  this  end,  so  firmly  molded  in  her  young 
mind  had  become  the  life  she  had  led.  But  in  a  short 
time  she  responded,  and  when  she,  too,  reached  Tucson, 


THE    WHITE    CONQUEST    OF    ARIZONA        45 

she  had  fully  recovered,  and  with  an  unimpaired  intel- 
lect. At  Prescott  the  beginning  of  the  end  of  another 
tragedy  that  was  to  come  in  later  years  was  in  process 
of  incubation.  Olive  Oatman  was  met  by  the  repre- 
sentative of  a  missionary  society,  in  whose  custody  the 
military,  authorized  by  her  distant  relatives,  she  was 
placed.  She  was  taken  to  Texas  and  resided  with  her 
relatives  for  some  years.  When  the  Oatman  massacre 
passed  into  history,  and  shortly  after  Olive  had  reached 
the  age  of  thirteen  years,  again  there  appeared  on  the 
scene  this  missionary  disciple  and  asked  for  the  hand 
of  this  young  and  tender  girl  in  marriage,  which  was 
readily  consented  to  by  her  people.  She  was  but  a 
child.  After  her  marriage  she  was  taken  to  New  Eng- 
land, and  presumably  her  union  was  approved  of  by 
the  church,  from  the  fact  of  the  prominence  of  her 
husband  in  the  rescue  work  he  was  identified  with  in 
Arizona.  But  the  man  had  a  black  heart.  He  traveled 
from  pillar  to  post  with  his  young  bride ;  in  short,  she 
was  the  drawing  card  that  filled  his  pulpit  on  each  and 
every  occasion.  It  became  a  notorious  proceeding,  and 
finally  the  wife  rebelled  at  the  elastic  manner  in  which 
she  was  being  handled  and  desired  to  be  relieved  of 
any  further  publicity  in  either  the  press  or  the 
pulpit.  Again  did  the  church  come  into  the  work  of 
rescue,  and  after  the  eastern  and  northern  fields  had 
been  plucked  of  all  possible  advantages,  the  couple  left 
for  the  South,  arriving  at  Nashville,  Tennessee.  Here 
they  led  for  a  few  months  a  secluded  life,  and  here 
also  was  the  final  chapter  in  the  woman's  life  enacted. 
She  was  stricken  with  fever,  and  in  a  short  period  there- 
after passed  away  from  this  earth  that  she  had  known 
for  only  eighteen  years.  What  became  of  the  man  no 
one  cares  to  know.  Bancroft 

LEE'S  REVENGE. 

To  provide  suitable  accommodations  in  Arizona  for 
the  military  when  bodies  of  troops  were  on  the  march, 
to  feed  the  cavalry  horses  and  to  water  the  same,  de- 
sirable sites  were  selected  by  the  War  Department  in 
the  Apache  fighting  days,  and  such  places  were  desig- 
nated as  "road  stations."  One  of  these  rendezvous 
was  known  by  the  title  of  the  "American  Ranch."  It 
was  also  a  stage  station  for  the  mail  contractor.  That 
gave  it  a  distinction.  Hay,  grain,  wood  and  water  were 


46       THE    WHITE    CONQUEST    OF    ARIZONA 

accordingly  In  abundance  at  all  times,  and  the  way- 
farer knew  that  something  was  always  in  the  larder. 
J.  H.  Lee,  the  owner,  was  from  the  same  township 
that  General  Crook  was  born  in,  so  that  little  incident 
figured  as  a  pull  at  the  government  string,  so  to  speak, 
and  Lee  had  a  "lead  pipe  cinch"  for  a  time  on  the 
good  money  of  Uncle  Sam.  Mr.  Lee  put  up  a  good- 
sized  building  and  stocked  it  with  "the  best  the  market 
affords."  No  sooner  was  it  in  full  blast  than  the 
Indians  appreciated  the  strategic  importance  of  the 
place,  and  while  the  owner  was  away,  the  sole  guardian 
was  run  off  and  the  place  burned  to  the  ground. 

The  loss  was  a  complete  one,  and  nothing  of  the 
value  of  a  dollar  was  permitted  to  escape  the  flames. 
In  addition  over  thirteen  hundred  dollars  in  cash  went 
up  in  smoke.  That  sum  was  a  small  fortune  in  those 
days ;  so,  with  the  property  loss,  and  the  quartermaster 
checks,  and  the  temporary  abandonment  of  the  station, 
Mr.  Lee  and  the  public  appreciated  the  loss  keenly.  He 
attempted  to  rebuild  and  regain  the  prestige  of  the  site, 
but  the  wily  Indian  disputed  the  claim.  This  exasper- 
ated the  man,  and  he  went  to  the  limit  of  his  credit  to 
accomplish  his  purpose.  In  time  he  restored  the  place 
and  the  business  came  back.  The  Indians  presumably 
had  left  that  section,  and  the  American  Ranch  became 
known  for  a  long  time  as  a  peaceable  locality  and  free 
from  danger.  But  with  the  restocking  of  the  place, 
the  cultivation  of  the  land  in  corn  and  barley  and 
the  restocking  with  animals,  the  place  was  turned  over 
under  lease  and  Mr.  Lee  came  into  town  to  live.  The 
new  owner  was  constantly  assailed,  and  the  profits  of 
the  business  were  eaten  up  in  guards  and  protective 
facilities  that  required  heavy  expense  to  maintain. 

As  a  last  resort  the  lessee  suggested  that  those  red 
devils  should  be  "fixed,"  and  he  adopted  a  plan  to  this 
end.  A  stock  of  flour  was  shipped  to  the  place,  and 
one  sack  was  carefully  marked  and  placed  in  a  con- 
venient place  where  the  renegades  could  easily  secure 
it.  In  the  meantime  the  red  devils  were  destroying 
proprty  at  a  wholesale  rate,  and  many  animals  were 
killed  while  grazing  in  the  pasture  adjacent.  That 
night  this  sack  was  placed  at  a  convenient  point  and 
the  next  morning  it  was  gone.  For  several  days  there- 
after there  were  no  Indians  to  molest  the  tranquility 
of  the  scene.  A  few  days  later  the  military  came  and 


THE    WHITE    CONQUEST    OF    ARIZONA        47 

began  scouting  the  country  adjacent.  With  Dan 
O'Leary  at  their  head,  they  were  piloted  to  a  locality 
where  he  had  seen  their  rancherie  a  few  weeks  pre- 
vious. This  was  the  objective  point  of  the  troops.  The 
next  day  the  soldiers  returned  from  their  scouting. 
They  had  capured  all  that  was  left  of  the  place,  some- 
thing like  fourteen  sick  Indians,  and  had  buried  twenty- 
four  who  had  died  the  day  previous.  The  matter  was 
reported  to  the  military  headquarters  and  an  investi- 
gation was  the  result.  Mr.  Lee  was  exonerated,  and 
in  the  meantime  the  lessee  had  fled  the  country.  This 
became  known  for  many  years  as  the  "Little  Pinole 
Treaty,"  and  it  was  severely  condemned  by  many  peo- 
ple, but  the  majority  were  in  favor  of  any  method  to 
exterminate  the  Indians,  and  nothing  was  more  wel- 
come to  white  men  than  extermination  of  their  enemies, 
even  by  means  of  flour  doctored  up  with  strychnine. 
In  that  era  the  most  fiendish  atrocities  were  committed 
by  the  Apaches,  and  women  and  children  were  at  their 
mercy.  Like  the  slogan  of  the  Texan  in  "Remember 
the  Alamo,"  so  was  the  watchword  ever  ringing  in  the 
ears  of  the  Arizonan  to  remember  the  fate  of  the  Oat- 
mans  ;  and  when  Miss  Pemberton  was  scalped,  lanced 
and  thrown  over  a  precipice  for  dead,  but  later  rescued 
by  the  troops  in  Southern  Arizona,  men  became  hard 
in  their  feelings  because  their  environment  was  such 
that  they  could  not  resist  in  demanding  an  eye  for  an 
eye  and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth.  It  is  an  established  fact 
that  livinsf  springs  of  water  were  time  and  time  again 
poisoned  by  the  Apaches  who  followed  the  route  of 
the  marching  troops.  The  Pinole  treaty  was  con- 
demned, and  so  was  General  Crook  for  reporting  a  few 
souls  as  killed  by  his  men  when  in  realty  and  in  truth 
he  slew  hundreds.  At  the  time  when  the  Indian  signal 
smoke  could  be  traced  from  the  Dragoon  Mountains  on 
the  south  to  the  Mogollons  on  the  north,  from  the  Col- 
orado River  on  the  west  to  the  Blue  on  the  east,  is 
there  any  authority  to  point  to  living  or  dead  who  can 
say  or  could  have  said  that  in  ten  years  of  the  Apache 
inferno  one  single  white  man  of  the  many  hundreds 
that  were  shot  down  did  not  fall  from  a  foe  that  was 
in  ambush  ?  And  then,  on  the  other  hand,  is  it  not  an 
established  fact  that  of  all  the  hundreds  of  Indians 
taken  in  captivity  all  were  pampered  by  a  sickly  senti- 
ment? Moreover,  is  there  one  single  instance  of  a 


48        THE    WHITE    CONQUEST    OF    ARIZONA 

white  man  who  was  captured  by  the  Indians  and  per- 
mitted to  live?  There  are  a  few  men  alive  today  in 
Arizona  who  are  cognizant  of  the  dark  days  that  en- 
shrouded this  Territory  when  such  bushwhackers  as 
Sheerum,  Natchez,  Nana,  Victoria,  Loco,  Geronimo 
and  others  of  their  ilk  reigned,  who  will  take  off  their 
hats  to  the  valor  of  the  Indians  like  Sitting  Bull,  Rain- 
in-the-Face,  White  Bear  and  other  Northern  Indians, 
because  they  fought  in  the  open,  and  man  for  man,  if 

the  occasion  called  for  it. 

*     *     * 

BEFORE  the  curtain  falls  on  the  last  scene  of  the 
bloody  Indian  drama  that  cursed  Arizona  for 
over  a  decade,  there  is  but  one  setting  to  the 
stage  of  the  thrilling  past.  While  it  lasted  it  was  in 
one  sense  of  far  more  importance  to  the  Territory  than 
the  preceding  events  that  characterized  the  fight  against 
the  Apache,  and  incidentally  it  also  gave  to  the  fair 
name  of  Arizona  for  a  generation  afterward  a  fearful 
reputation  of  horror.  But  the  Territory  has  emerged 
from  the  chasm  that  engulfed  it  only  the  more  re- 
splendent and  inviting,  and  the  Apache  no  longer  Way- 
lays the  lone  traveler.  However,  the  final  stab  the 
Apache  thrust  in  his  doom  was  that  frightful  event 
when  Loco,  a  noted  war  chief  of  the  White  Mountain 
Indians,  broke  loose  from  his  reservation  at  San  Carlos 
in  1882.  With  over  500  followers  he  raided  the  beau- 
tiful Gila  Valley,  and  death  and  destruction  followed. 
His  cunning  was  such  that  none  realized  it  until  too 
late.  Teamsters  on  the  road  were  shot  down,  farmers 
in  the  fields  picked  off,  and  prospectors  in  the  hills 
treated  to  the  same  fate.  Over  fifty  were  killed,  and 
in  one  instance  two  young  ladies  on  a  cattle  ranch 
were  unmercifully  shot  down.  This  outbreak  became 
of  national  importance,  and  soon  the  machinery  of  the 
war  department  at  Washington  was  again  oiled  up 
and  set  in  motion.  Loco  made  for  the  Sierra  Madre 
range  of  mountains  in  Mexico,  which  he  succeeded  in 
reaching.  General  Crook  at  this  time  was  engaged 
against  the  Sioux,  and  he  was  again  sent  to  Arizona. 
In  the  meantime  several  fights  occurred  while  the 
flight  of  the  Apache  was  in  progress,  and  one  of  mem- 
orable rating  was  that  which  Captain  Chaffee  of  the 
6th  cavalry,  directed.  But  this  officer  was  handicapped 
in  numbers,  and  had  it  not  been  for  the  lack  of  water 


Daniel  Hatz   . 

ONE  of  the  old  pioneers  of  Arizona  who  was  in  the  thick  of  the  early 
struggles  of  the  territory. 


THE    WHITE    CONQUEST    OF    ARIZONA        49 

for  his  command,  there  is  reason  to  believe  he  would 
have  dealt  the  Indian  a  crushing  blow. 

With  the  re-entrance  of  Crook  the  entire  First  regi- 
ment of  infantry  was  ordered  from  Texas,  and  soon 
the  boundary  line  of  Mexico  and  the  United  States 
was  alive  with  soldiers.  So  far  as  field  operations 
were  concerned  Captain  Crawford  of  the  3rd  cavalry 
was  practically  in  charge,  being  stationed  on  the  line. 
The  Americans,  however,  could  not  under  treaty  rights 
then  prevailing,  enter  Mexican  territory,  hence  there 
was  an  era  of  apathetic  operations.  This  terminated 
in  1884,  when  a  general  surrender  took  place,  and  the 
Indians  were  again  on  the  reservation,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  Natchez.  This  Indian  was  the  son  of  the 
famous  war  god  of  the  Chiricahuas — Cochise,  after 
whom  Cochise  county  is  named.  Natchez  was  accord- 
ingly the  hereditary  chief  of  this  tribe,  after  the  death 
of  his  father.  He  was  at  this  time  in  supreme  com- 
mand of  a  fearless  and  cruel  band,  and  his  premier,  or 
chief  of  staff,  was  the  no-less  heartless  Geronimo. 
Natchez  was  a  fine  type  of  man  physically,  standing 
over  six  feet  in  height,  with  a  frame  as  straight  and 
symmetrical  as  an  arrow.  With  his  magnificent  phy- 
sique, he  was  what  might  be  termed  a  "gallant,"  so  far 
as  his  association  or  relation  with  squaws  was  consid- 
ered. He  was  dutiful  to  them,  and  his  delight  was  to 
squat  down  on  a  blanket  and  play  the  "coon  can  game" 
of  cards  or  engage  in  conversation  or  favor  them  with 
personal  attention.  But  Natchez  tired  soon  of  the  hid- 
ing-out game  and  also  came  in  and  gave  himself  up. 

With  a  combination  of  ten  war  chiefs,  and  with 
Natchez  at  their  head  and  Geronimo  as  the  second 
best,  these  Indians  asked  to  be  sent  into  the  mountains 
near  San  Carlos.  This  move  was  made  for  a  purpose. 
They  desired  to  mature  plans  for  a  general  outbreak 
the  following  Spring,  and  they  desired  the  isolation  of 
the  region  to  perfect  their  plans.  They  were  sent  to 
their  new  habitation  and  remained  for  nearly  a  year. 
In  the  Spring  of  1885  they  again  took  to  the  field  in  a 
determined  outbreak,  Natchez  being  again  at  the  head, 
and  Geronimo  as  second  in  command.  Their  strength 
was  less  than  100  fighting  men,  but  they  were  the  pick 
of  the  tribes.  This  outbreak  electrified  the  nation,  and 
there  was  everywhere  a  determined  move  on  the  part 
of  the  military  to  crush  the  Indians  once  and  forever. 


50       THE    WHITE    CONQUEST    OF    ARIZONA 

Captain  Crawford  again  took  the  field,  and  was  given 
supreme  command  of  the  operations  against  the  out- 
laws, who  had  again  made  for  the  Sierra  Madres  in 
Mexico.  Crawford  enlisted  fifty-five  White  Mountain 
and  forty-five  Chiricahua  Indians,  the  latter  contingent 
all  being  brothers  of  the  outlaws.  With  Crawford's 
command  there  were  but  six  white  officers :  Dr.  T.  B. 
Davis,  at  present  of  Prescott,  Arizona,  as  surgeon; 
Lieutenant  M.  P.  Maus,  Lieutenant  W.  H.  Shipp,  Lieu- 
tenant S.  L.  Faison,  Thomas  Home  and  J.  H.  Harri- 
son, as  chiefs  of  the  Indian  scouts.  This  make-up  of 
white  men  as  against  one  hundred  wild  Apaches,  and 
with  over  one-half  of  the  latter  related  to  the  outlaws, 
will  give  one  an  idea  of  the  perilous  nature  of  the 
undertaking  and  what  would  result  if  treachery  sup- 
planted fidelity  while  on  the  march  in  the  mountain 
fastnesses  of  the  route  they  were  to  travel.  The  chase 
was  initiated  under  these  conditions,  and  over  eight 
months  passed  without  any  results  being  accomplished. 
The  privations  of  this  handful  of  white  men  were  cruel 
in  the  extreme,  but  the  spirit  of  Crawford  was  immov- 
ably centered  to  conquer,  in  which  determination  he 
was  backed  by  the  white  officers  to  a  man.  A  zigzag 
route  of  over  five  hundred  miles  in  Mexico  was  trav- 
ersed by  the  command,  most  of  the  distance  being 
covered  on  foot  with  mocassins  as  footwear,  in  a  chain 
of  mountains  in  comparison  to  which  the  Lava  Beds 
of  Oregon  are  a  carpet.  There  is  no  region  in  North 
America,  it  is  said,  that  is  as  rough  and  rugged  as  the 
Sierra  Madres  of  Mexico,  with  neither  trails  nor 
wagon  roads  to  guide.  This  command  had  additional 
privations  to  face  in  wading  and  swimming  streams 
of  water.  In  the  heart  of  this  chain  of  mountains  the 
trail  of  the  Indians  was  finally  cut,  and  after  a  forced 
march  of  eighteen  hours,  the  greater  part  of  it  being 
accomplished  at  night,  the  Indian  camp  was  attacked, 
and  captured,  but  without  success  so  far  as  the  outlaws 
were  concerned.  The  camp  supplies,  the  horses  and 
other  equipment  were  taken  in,  and  one  chief,  Nana, 
with  a  few  squaws  and  two  bucks,  but  the  morale  of 
the  organization  was  shattered.  Natchez  was  left  in 
the  hills  with  nothing  to  eat,  and  soon  his  squaw  ven- 
tured in  offering  to  surrender. 

The  tragic  ending  of  this  famous  expedition,  was 
here  enacted.     While  Crawford  was  camped  and  his 


THE    WHITE    CONQUEST    OF    ARIZONA       51 

command  was  recuperating  from  their  long  and  fa- 
tiguing pursuit,  a  company  of  Mexican  soldiers  ap- 
proached, believing  (they  said  later)  that  it  was  the 
Indian  rendezvous.  They  commenced  firing  when 
within  range  of  the  Americans,  and  notwithstanding 
they  were  addressed  in  the  Mexican  language,  contin- 
ued the  fusillade.  In  the  midst  of  the  shooting,  Craw- 
ford jumped  on  top  of  a  big  boulder,  and  waving  a 
white  handkerchief,  asked  them  to  cease  firing.  A  bul- 
let struck  him  over  the  left  eye  and  he  fell  mortally 
wounded.  Several  of  the  Indian  scouts  were  also  hit. 
The  entire  command  with  the  exception  of  Lieutenant 
Maus,  were  in  favor  of  having  a  battle  then  and  there 
with  the  Mexicans,  and  had  it  not  been  for  the  ranking 
officers  there  would  have  been  a  conflict.  Crawford 
was  taken  on  a  litter  improvised  from  cane  poles  and 
tied  with  buckskin  strings,  along  with  the  wounded  In- 
dians, and  after  eight  days  without  regaining  con- 
sciousness he  passed  away.  Nacori,  a  Mexican  ham- 
let, was  reached  in  a  few  days,  and  the  remains  of 
Crawford  were  temporarily  placed  there.  Later  they 
were  removed  and  taken  to  his  native  state,  Nebraska, 
for  burial. 

The  hostile  Indians  in  the  hills  continued  overtures 
for  peace,  however,  saying  that  in  two  months  they 
would  come  to  the  Arizona  line  and  surrender.  This 
they  did.  Funnel  Canyon  near  the  line  was  selected 
for  the  big  "pow  wow."  General  Crook  was  notified 
at  Bowie  and  he  came  on.  A  three  days  discussion 
followed,  and  here  the  fine  hand  and  smooth  tongue 
of  Geronimo  figured,  and  henceforth  no  other  Indian 
in  the  history  of  the  nation  became  as  prominently 
known  as  he.  No  other  Indian  but  Geronimo  had 
anything  to  say,  and  even  Natchez  was  always  sup- 
planted when  any  point  was  up  for  discussion.  The 
conclusion  arrived  at  was  to  surrender  unconditionally 
to  General  Crook  and  to  come  into  Bowie.  With  this 
understanding  Crook  and  the  military  left  for  that 
military  post.  But  in  the  interim,  several  Indian  trad- 
ers were  infesting  that  region,  where  the  military  were 
as  thick  as  fleas,  and  where  revenue  was  wholesomely 
diverted  into  their  coffers  when  there  was  any  liquor  to 
be  had.  These  nefarious  venders  carried  a  Mexican 
decoction  known  as  "mescal,"  and  knowing  the  fond- 
ness of  the  Apache  for  the  same,  they  found  willing 


52       THE    WHITE    CONQUEST    OF    ARIZONA 

patrons.  Besides,  these  Indians  had  plenty  of  Mexi- 
can money  secured  in  their  many  raids,  and  the  money 
for  the  fire-water  was  forthcoming.  The  effect  of  the 
liquor  was  to  repudiate  the  contract  with  the  military 
and  Natchez  and  Geronimo  again  took  to  the  field,  or 
until  their  drunken  debauch  terminated.  This  news 
created  a  stir  in  military  circles  at  Washington,  and 
Crook  was  peremptorily  ordered  out  of  Arizona.  Gen- 
eral Miles  supplanted  him,  and  inside  of  ten  days  Ge- 
ronimo came  in  and  surrendered  thirty-two  of  his  fol- 
lowers to  Lieutenant  Gatewood  in  charge  of  some  In- 
dian scouts  at  the  San  Bernardino  ranch  on  the  border. 
With  Gatewood  was  Dr.  Wood,  now  General  Wood, 
in  the  U.  S.  Army  of  the  Philippines.  Critics  of  Gen- 
eral Crook  state  that  if  at  the  time  of  the  agreement  to 
surrender  he  had  persisted  in  the  custom  to  lay  down 
arms  and  other  weapons  the  glory  would  have  been 
his,  instead  of  it  all  going  to  General  Miles. 

With  all  due  respect  to  all  military  men  and  of  every 
rank,  the  credit  of  Geronimo's  or  Natchez's  downfall 
must  attach  to  the  memory  of  Captain  Crawford.  No 
expedition  ever  undertaken  on  the  American  conti- 
nent against  the  Indians  or  any  other  foe  can  equal 
that  in  the  Mexican  march  he  captained,  nor  was  there 
ever  in  the  American  army  on  the  frontier  a  more 
zealous,  a  more  determined  and  a  cooler  officer.  He 
was  a  trusted  subaltern  of  Crook,  and  no  one  can  gain- 
say that  as  the  outcome  of  his  magnificent  work  on 
this  particular  expedition,  not  a  shot  has  been  fired 
from  that  day  to  this  by  the  Apache  in  Arizona. 


THE     END. 


